Picture Credit: ECB
The England men's cricket have announced a new 18-member squad for the ODI series against Pakistan set to commence on Thursday. The announcement comes after it was confirmed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that as many as three players and four staff members had tested positive for COVID-19.
While Ben Stokes will return to the squad as the captain of the side, Chris Silverwood, who had taken some time off during the white-ball series, is back as the head coach of the contingent. As many as nine uncapped players have been named in the squad. ECB Managing Director Ashley Giles identified this as a great opportunity for the players and highlighted how most of them wouldn't have been expecting this call up even hours ago.
Great opportunity to play on the biggest stage: Ashley Giles
"It's a great opportunity to play on the biggest stage, and for most of the players selected it's not necessarily something they would have been expecting 24 hours ago," Giles was quoted as saying in an official release.
"It's an exciting group of players, with some young talent and some players who have impressed at a domestic level over a long period of time," he added.
"We're in unprecedented territory, in terms of replacing an entire squad and management team, and I'm very proud of how everyone has come together in order to get it done - both those within the ECB and from the county game. "Ben hasn't captained our ODI side before so it's a huge honour for him. We all wish him well and it's a role I'm sure he'll thrive in. I'd like to also put on record the thanks of the ECB to the PCB for their support and understanding during this time," he further said.
England's 18-member ODI squad for the 3-match ODI series:
Ben Stokes (c), Jake Ball, Danny Briggs, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Lewis Gregory, Tom Helm, Will Jacks, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Matt Parkinson, David Payne, Phil Salt, John Simpson, James Vince