Harry Brook reacts after provisional World Cup squad snub

Harry Brook is touted as the future of English cricket. He has already established himself in Test cricket and has done decently in T20Is as well. However, he has only played three ODIs thus far, all of them against South Africa earlier this year. He scored 80 off 75 deliveries in the second ODI and would have been hoping to showcase his skills in the upcoming 50-over World Cup, which will be exclusively hosted by India for the first time.

However, Ben Stokes, who had retired from 50-over cricket back in 2022, decided to make a U-turn earlier this week. The selectors picked the star all-rounder ahead of Brook in the squad for the four-match ODI series against New Zealand, which is also England’s provisional squad for the ODI World Cup. Therefore, Brook’s chances of featuring in the marquee event look slim.

The 24-year-old said that England’s white-ball coach Matthew Motts and captain Jos Buttler had informed him that with the return of Stokes, he was going to miss the forthcoming edition of the ODI World Cup. Brook hailed Stokes as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and felt that there wasn’t much of a scope to complain regarding his non-selection.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing but I can’t do anything about it now,” Brook said. “You’ve just got to move on. I’m trying not to think about it anymore. I’ve not had much conversation with Matthew [Mott] or Jos [Buttler]. They said with Stokesy coming back I was probably going to miss out this time. He is one of the best players to ever play cricket, so I can’t really complain, can I?” Brook was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“I feel like I’m playing well at the minute and feel I could potentially add value to the team. [But] there’s always something more you could do.”

I haven’t had much opportunity to play one-day cricket: Harry Brook

Harry Brook played his last ODI against South Africa in February. He hasn’t played 50-over cricket for Yorkshire since 2019 as the One Day Cup has been coinciding with the Hundred in the last three years. The right-handed batter felt that lack of List A experience coupled with inconsistent T20 performances in recent times could have been a reason behind his omission.

“I haven’t had much opportunity to play one-day cricket, whether that be for Yorkshire or England and although I’ve played a lot of T20 cricket, I don’t know if I’ve done as well as I have in the past in the last six months, so that might have had an effect,” Brook concluded.