London
Former England cricketer Mark Butcher believes that the omission of young in-form batter Harry Brook from England’s squad for the ICC ODI World Cup is a mistake.
Last week, Brook was surprisingly left out of England’s provisional ODI World Cup squad as well as for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand at home.
Brook’s omission came due to all-rounder Ben Stokes coming out of retirement from the format to help England defend their ODI World Cup title in India, won four years ago on home soil, from October 5 to November 19. Despite fetching tremendous success in Tests and T20Is, Brook has only played three ODIs for England, all of them against South Africa earlier this year. At the domestic level, he last played a 50-over game for Yorkshire in 2019, due to the competition clashing with the Hundred in the last three years.
I don’t see it, really. Brook is so startlingly good. Regardless of how much or how little ODI cricket that he’s played, it would not take him very long to get up to speed because he is such a rare talent, said Butcher. England will open their 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 campaign against New Zealand, in what will be a re-match of the 2019 final, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 5. The ten-team tournament will conclude with the final to be also held in Ahmedabad on November 19.
