August 17th 2023.
Jofra Archer was left stunned when he discovered that Harry Brook had been omitted from England's squad for the upcoming 50-over World Cup. On Wednesday, England announced their 15-man squad for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand, which will also be playing in the World Cup.
While Test captain Ben Stokes returned to the squad after ending his ODI retirement, Brook's name was absent from the list. Brook had made a sensational start to his international career, having scored four centuries and seven fifties in 20 Test innings and helping England win the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Although Brook failed to make his first Ashes hundred in the recent drawn series against Australia, he still proved to be a reliable contributor with four fifties in the last four Tests. Archer, who has also been left out of England's World Cup squad due to an injury setback earlier in the year, was on Sky Sports' coverage of The Hundred when he heard the news of Brook's omission.
Heather Knight, England's women's captain, said: ‘No Harry Brook I think. He’s obviously a form player that’s had an amazing start to his international career, but someone’s got to miss out and there’s so many players to fit into that squad. It can make it tricky.’
Archer was then asked for his thoughts on The Hundred competition but was clearly taken aback by the Brook news. He said: ‘Sorry, I want to go back to that. I didn’t even realise that Brooky was not there. Yeah um… sorry, can you say that again? It’s just got me a bit stunned, can you repeat the question please?’
England national selector Luke Wright admitted that it was an ‘incredibly tough’ decision to leave out Brook. He said: ‘It’s as hard a decision as you’re ever going to get. There’s no doubting he’s someone we couldn’t think any more highly off. But it’s just that middle order with Stokesy coming back, that it was going to squeeze – it made it incredibly tough.’
Jos Buttler's side will aim to defend their World Cup trophy in India later this year after becoming world champions in 50-over cricket on home soil in 2019. England have until September 28 to tinker with their squad, but barring any injuries, it is expected that this 15-man group will remain unchanged. Brook and Archer could travel as reserve players, though even in the best case scenario, Archer will only be fit for the second half of the tournament.
England have been buoyed by the return of Ben Stokes, who bowled England to victory in the World Cup final super over. However, the 28-year-old has been plagued with injury problems since that summer. Wright added: ‘There has got to be a duty of care with Jof. We know how desperate we all are to have him, but we’ve also got to get it right for him. He’s been very unfortunate with these injuries, [so] we do have to get it right. 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.’
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