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.”
“There are some people who just have ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ may be. Finding them to accommodate at the expense of older players who have probably reached their peak, reached their zenith would be a much bolder and much more satisfying move.”
“It just seems to me that somebody of Brook’s incredible ability should have found a way in. The fact that Stokes has been picked doesn’t surprise anybody, it doesn’t surprise me. I expected that to happen anyway. Didn’t see it coming at the expense of Harry Brook. Brook missing out, I think, is a mistake,” said Butcher in the latest episode of the Wisden Cricket Podcast.
He further pointed out that England’s ageing ODI batting line-up will be missing Brook’s youth and extravagant energy.
“You need that injection of a bit of genius knocking around in these tournaments and Brook has that in spades. England’s specialist batters in the group… the youngest is probably Joe Root, at 32.”
“He’s younger than Jos (Buttler). Jonny’s (Bairstow) is 33, (Dawid) Malan’s 35, J (Jason) Roy is 33, Jos is 32, and then you’ve obviously got Ben (Stokes) in there who’s playing as a specialist batter as well at 32.”
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.
–IANS