England captain Jos Buttler discussed how he felt responsible for informing their regular opener about his omission from the squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Jason Roy’s run with the England side has been prolific. With a strike rate of above 100, he has 4271 runs at an average closing of 40. In spite of this, the batter was left out of England’s World Cup team. In 2023, Roy scored two ODI hundreds, but the batsman is currently dealing with back spasms, which prevented him from playing in the four-match ODI series against New Zealand. The selectors decided to include Harry Brook in the 15-player line-up despite their continued concerns about the batter’s fitness. Buttler claimed that because he and Roy are such close friends and he felt a feeling of obligation, he told Roy of the choice.
“It’s part of the job as captain that is not enjoyable, whether they’re great friends or not, it’s not a nice job to do. I certainly feel like it’s my responsibility to give that news. He’s a really great mate of mine so it was a really tough call to make,” Buttler said. Roy will serve as the team’s top-order backup, according to Buttler. He continued by saying that some talented players had to miss the travel to India due to the nature of the game.
England batter Jason Roy opted out from the ODI series against Ireland, and uncapped player Tom Kohler-Cadmore has been added to the squad. Kohler-Cadmore received his first England call-up. He will join the team in Nottingham ahead of Saturday’s second ODI.
Roy has turned down to play against Ireland as a result of his last-minute omission from their final World Cup squad. According to reports, England’s national selector Luke Wright said that Roy was given “the option of being involved” against Ireland but his decision would not affect his status as England’s “batting reserve at the top of the order” for the World Cup. “He wasn’t expecting to be in that Ireland squad and then to get the news that he was missing out on the World Cup all came as a bit of a hammer blow,” Wright said.
Before the World Cup, England face-off against Ireland in a three-game series that begins on Wednesday. They’ll also feature in two warm-up fixtures, against India and Bangladesh respectively, prior to the global event. England’s World Cup campaign starts on the opening day on October 5 when they take on New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
