Former England Test skipper Joe Root has been added to England’s first ODI squad against Ireland at Headingley at his own request. England’s original squad did not include any players from their provisional ODI World Cup squad for the three-match ODI series. Harry Brook was the only exception. He was part of the ODI series but after being included in the squad in place of Jason Roy, he will be rested for the entire series. Root will be looking to gain some momentum before the ODI World Cup starts on October 5. He has struggled for form during England’s recently concluded 3-1 win over New Zealand, making 6, 0 and 4 in the first three matches before a rusty knock of 29 (40) in the fourth ODI at Lord’s. His knock further exposed his lack of rhythm and consistency in the 50-over format.
In total, he has batted just 16 times in the ODI format since England won the 2019 World Cup.
England national selector Luke Wright revealed that Root has ‘asked to be involved’ in Wednesday’s first ODI.
“Like a lot of people, he’s getting into the rhythm of 50-over cricket. Obviously we’re not playing [much of] It is true in this country, but a lot of those guys haven’t played much 50-over cricket, especially someone like Joe,” said Wright, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“He just wanted a little more time. It’s great that someone still has the desire to want to do more and more. It shows where he is with his game and what makes him such a world-class player who, when he feels not quite right, he still wants to tinker and do more. While we probably thought he needed a break too, he just wanted to give it another try,” Wright added.
Wright further indicated that Roy, who is suffering from back spasms, could feature in both the second and third ODIs against Ireland.
“We gave Jason the option to be involved and he still has the option,” Wright said. “He wasn’t expected to be in the Ireland squad and the news that he would miss the World Cup came as a blow, so we left that to Jason. We will work.” about that in the coming days.”
England will play the first ODI against Ireland at Headingley on Wednesday.
England squad vs Ireland: Zak Crawley (c), Ben Duckett (vc), Rehan Ahmed, Joe Root (first ODI only), Brydon Carse, Sam Hain, Will Jacks, Craig Overton, Matthew Potts, Phil Salt, George Scrimshaw, Jamie Smith, Luke Wood.
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