In a recent development, the England Cricket Board (ECB) have astonishingly left out the destructive batter Jason Roy from the ODI WC 2023 squad. Jason Roy didn’t feature in the 4-match ODI series against New Zealand as it was reported that the batter has back spasms which ruled him out of the series.
England skipper Jos Buttler though in one of the recent interviews had stated that Jason Roy is in the plans of the team. We should not forget that Jason Roy played a key role in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 triumph. The specialty of Jason Roy over the years has been that he makes the most of the starts and decimates the opponent.
We are blessed with an incredibly strong group of white ball players- Luke Wright
England cricket team’s national selector Luke Wright was having an interaction with the media. Luke Wright was quite optimistic that England can defend the title and pointed out that the side played exceptional cricket against a quality New Zealand side. England had won the series by 3-1 and dictated the terms.
“We have selected a squad we are confident can go to India and win the World Cup, “We are blessed with an incredibly strong group of white-ball players which was underlined by the performances in the series win against a very good New Zealand team,” said Luke Wright.
“The strength of the group has meant that we have had to make some tough decisions on world-class players with Jason Roy missing out and Harry Brook coming into the squad,” he added.
Stern message to Jason Roy
ECB perhaps have made a strong statement to all the aspiring cricketers that if a cricketer rejects central contract then he will have to warm the benches; Jason Roy had refused the central contract in order to play franchise cricket around the globe but had made it clear that he would give priority to the nation first.
In the absence of Jason Roy, the batting sensation Harry Brook has been called up into the squad. England will have a left hand-right hand batting opening combination in the form of Dawid Malan & Jonny Bairstow. Despite the axe of Jason Roy, the England cricket team looks quite unbeatable.
England World Cup Squad: Jos Buttler (c), Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Reece Topley, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson