England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced England's squad for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 on Wednesday, August 16. Red-ball team captain Ben Stokes and the former captain Joe Root return to the ODI setup but star pacer Jofra Archer misses out due to an elbow injury.
England's national team selector Luke Wright revealed that the 28-year-old right-arm pacer would travel to India as a reserve player but added Jofra is unlikely to recover on time for the tournament with England taking on New Zealand in the opening game starting on October 5.
"There has got to be a duty of care with Jof," Wright said. "We know how desperate we all are to have him - there's no doubt about that - but we've also got to get it right for him. He's been very unfortunate with these injuries… regarding the World Cup, unfortunately, we're just running out of time.
"He's not going to come round quite quick enough, especially for the first part of the World Cup. There is a duty of care with him. We have to make sure that long-term, we get it right because we see him as a huge asset for a long time. As much as the temptation is to try and rush him in and get him in for the start of this World Cup, unfortunately, we're just going to run out of time."
The biggest news for England fans is the return of Stokes to 50-over cricket. The star all-rounder repeatedly said that he will not entertain ECB's requests for the World Cup return but his inclusion will be a pleasing surprise for the champions.
Root, who boasts a 50-plus average in ODIs, is also part of England's provisional team having last played ODIs over a year ago. However, apart from Archer, one major missing figure is Harry Brook. The young batter has established himself as one of the best batters across formats, especially in Test cricket, but fails to make the cut with Root and Stokes set to securing middle-order spots.
England's provisional squad for the World Cup: Jos Buttler (c & wk), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.
