Jos Buttler, England’s white-ball captain, revealed that Harry Brook’s flexibility to bat at various positions from No. 1 to No. 6 in the batting order played a decisive role in his selection for the ODI World Cup squad, ahead of Jason Roy, a cornerstone of England’s title win in 2019.
“Harry (Brook), we do feel gives us versatility – he can cover one to six in the batting order which is obviously something that’s advantageous in a squad,” said Buttler while speaking to Sky Sports. “There’s plenty of people outside the 15 who will have felt that they were in with a really good chance of a spot. It’s a bad headache to have but a good problem as a selection committee when you have a deep pool of players to choose from.”
Brook was initially omitted from the provisional squad after Ben Stokes’ return to the fold but has now replaced the South Africa-born Roy in the final iteration. Brook’s exploits with the bat in The Hundred and England’s T20I series against New Zealand, coupled with his adaptability, contributed to his selection.