In a late and dramatic change to England's 15-man squad for the upcoming World Cup, Jason Roy has been excluded, and Harry Brook has been selected as his replacement.
The decision to drop Roy, a crucial member of the England squad that clinched the World Cup title in 2019, comes just under three weeks before the tournament kicks off. He was initially part of England's provisional squad for the championship but was sidelined due to a series of back spasms that ruled him out of the New Zealand ODIs.
In his absence, Dawid Malan made a strong case for inclusion as opener, earning the Player of the Series title with an impressive 277 runs at an average of 92.33 in three games, including a century at Lord's.
Malan's strong showing at the top of the order allows England to open with the left-hander and Jonny Bairstow. This opened up a spot in the middle order, which allowed Brook, initially picked as a reserve batter, to sneak in.
During the New Zealand series, Brook managed a total of 37 runs from 68 balls in his two stints as an opener after Roy's initial back injury. Moreover, Brook has featured in only six ODIs in his career, debuting in South Africa in January, but he has been deemed a future superstar, and his omission earlier had been met with criticism.
Brook's exceptional performances across formats over the past year worked in his favour. His standout performance in Test cricket, where he averages 1181 runs at an impressive average of 62.15 with a strike rate of 91, along with a sensational 41-ball century for the Northern Superchargers in the Hundred recently, were been instrumental in his selection.
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Is this the end of the road for Jason Roy?
Roy's decline in performance had been evident even prior to his back issues, with his ODI average dropping to 31.78 and a strike rate of 98.99 over the past four years.
Although he showed his skills earlier in the year with two hundreds, his omission from England's T20I plans and absence from the T20 World Cup in Australia last year signalled the end of his international career.
Jason Roy had previously stated that the World Cup would mark his international farewell.
His unforgettable innings in the 2019 World Cup, including a blazing 85 off 65 balls in the semi-final against Australia at Edgbaston and the decisive throw from deep midwicket that secured England's victory in the tied Super Over at Lord's against New Zealand in the final, will forever go down in history books.
Roy played 116 ODIs for England, scoring 4,271 runs at an average of just under 40 with 12 hundreds and 21 fifties.
