England are prepared to play Ben Stokes as a batsman only when they defend their 50-over men’s World Cup title in India after the Test captain reversed his decision to retire from one-day internationals.
The all-rounder, troubled by a longstanding left knee injury that restricted his bowling during the recent drawn Ashes Test series at home to Australia, said playing in all three international formats was “unsustainable” when calling time on his ODI career 13 months ago. The 32-year-old had planned to use a six-month gap until England next play Test cricket, away to India, in order to attend to his chronic problem. But he is now set for a role as a specialist batsman as one of nine survivors named in a 15-man squad to face New Zealand in three home ODIs next month that is also set to double as England’s party for a World Cup in India that runs from October 5-November 19.
“It wasn’t really a case of changing his (Stokes’s) mind,” said England national selector Luke Wright after the squad was unveiled on Wednesday. “Once his body was in a good place and he’d had a rest, he was really keen to play. He still has time to do his rest and rehab, which he’s doing, and he says his knee does feel like it’s improving.
“The one thing we won’t be doing is pushing him to bowl unless he’s absolutely fit and raring to go. That was a big part of the decision for him, being able to just play as a batter and that was an easy decision for us. Ultimately the decision came down to it’s a World Cup we want to win and we feel like we are better, and have more chance, with Stokesy than we haven’t. If ever there’s someone for the big moments it’s Ben Stokes.”
The return of Stokes, the player of the match in the 2019 World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord’s and the man whose unbeaten fifty led his side to victory in the Twenty20 equivalent last year, comes at the expense of Harry Brook. The Yorkshire batsman has been the rising star of the England set-up during the past year, with the 24-year-old having compiled four hundreds in 12 Tests, while boasting strike rates of 98.85 and 137.77 in ODIs and T20s respectively.
Dawid Malan, who made ODI hundreds in Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh during the 2022/23 English winter – has retained his place ahead of Brook.
“It’s as hard a decision as you’re ever going to get,” said Wright, who labelled Brook a “superstar” before adding: “But unfortunately in a 15-man squad, someone’s going to have to miss out. On this occasion it’s been him.”
Uncapped Surrey fast bowler Gus Atkinson, who has been clocked at 95mph (153kph), is also in the squad, seemingly as cover for Jofra Archer. The 25-year-old was not even in Surrey’s XI at the start of the season but has impressed across all formats, especially in The Hundred for the Oval Invincibles. The injured Archer, the Super Over star of the 2019 World Cup final, is currently recovering from his latest elbow injury.
Archer last played for England in March and Wright, once a teammate of the 28-year-old at county side Sussex, said: “There has got to be a duty of care with Jof, we know how desperate we all are to have him, there’s no doubt about that, but we’ve also got to get it right for him.
As much as the temptation is to try and rush him in and get him in for the start of this World Cup, unfortunately we’re just going to run out of time. The best case scenario for Jof at the moment would probably be available for the back end of the tournament. But obviously, a lot of things have still got to go right with his rehab before then.” England begin the series against the Black Caps in Cardiff on September 8.
A separate squad for a series with Ireland later in September will be named nearer the start of that series.
England must name their final 15-strong World Cup squad, plus three travelling reserves by September 25. They begin their white-ball home season with four Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand from August 30 to September 5. Hampshire seamer John Turner has earned his first senior call-up while Atkinson could make his England debut in the series, with Stokes not a member of the T20 squad.
England ODI squad to play New Zealand: Jos Buttler (capt/wkt), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes
England T20 squad to play New Zealand: Jos Buttler (capt/wkt), Rehan Ahmed, Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, John Turner, Luke Wood

England v New Zealand fixtures (all start times GMT)
T20 series: Aug 30: 1st T20, Chester-le-Street (1700); Sep 1: 2nd T20, Old Trafford, Manchester (1700); Sep 3: 3rd T20, Edgbaston, Birmingham (1330); Sep 5: 4th T20, Trent Bridge, Nottingham (1700)
ODI series: Sep 8: 1st ODI, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (1130); Sep 10: 2nd ODI, Ageas Bowl, Southampton (1000); Sep 13: 3rd ODI, The Oval, London (1130); Sep 15: 4th ODI, Lord’s, London (1130)