Bazball stars to be integrated into ODI squad
Brook omitted for World Cup but...
ENGLAND intend to bring their dynamic Test team and white-ball sides closer together following this autumn’s 50-over World Cup in India — a move which comes too late for one of their biggest Bazball stars.
Harry Brook’s omission from England’s 15-strong squad came after Ben Stokes’s acceptance of an offer, exclusively revealed in last week’s Mail On Sunday, to come out of retirement and play as a specialist batsman.
The 24-year-old was rocked by the selection snub, but can expect to be joined by familiar faces in the build-up to the Champions Trophy in early 2025, with plans to also integrate Test openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.
England intend to include the trio for three one-day and five Twenty20 internationals in the Caribbean in December that begin less than a fortnight after the World Cup. Very few players, if any, will feature on the subcontinent and versus West Indies.
With the white-ball selectors now working to two rather than four-year cycles, this World Cup appears a natural staging post in the batting unit’s succession plan.
Dawid Malan has been in rich form, hitting four hundreds in a dozen ODIs but turns 36 in a fortnight, while the 33-year-old Jason Roy’s average has dipped from a careerhigh 43 at the end of the last World Cup to 40. And England head coach Matthew Mott says the method of play in his 50-over team is aligned to that used in Tests under Brendon McCullum.
‘With a natural crossover of players between the Test and white-ball sides, I see it as seamless,’ Mott said.
‘It’s the England cricket team and we play different formats, albeit we have different coaches and a slightly different style, but part of the magic we have got going at the moment is that we all have the wider interests at heart in terms of the whole game.’
Mott is not averse to making tough calls on selection when it comes to major tournaments and he pre-warned in an interview with Mail Sport last week: ‘It’s going to be incredibly hard to get picked for this World Cup, if you look at all the players that are becoming available.’
One of the reasons Brook was so upset on missing out, though, was that he didn’t see it coming. For multi-format players, forward planning is now routine and all the mapping for the Yorkshireman appeared to point to inclusion.
But a number of issues went against him once Stokes — man of the match in both final wins that made England double world champions — confirmed his return.
Firstly, Brook doesn’t offer a serviceable bowling option for ODIs, placing him behind rival Liam Livingstone. Nor, despite his natural Test tempo of scoring 92 runs per 100 balls making a strong case for inclusion in England’s first-choice XI, do his numbers in white-ball internationals — passing 50 twice in 23 appearances — demand it.
He also has reason to feel mildly aggrieved, after waiving a six-figure SA20 salary to feature in his debut one-day series against South Africa, that the ECB are yet to move him off a £58,000 incremental deal awarded last October.