England will offer a glimpse into the future of their 50-over side after the harrowing World Cup campaign on Tuesday afternoon when they announce a 14-man squad for next week’s one-off international against Ireland in Dublin.
While their group stage exit from the tournament in March prompted calls for a wide-ranging overhaul of their approach to the format, the proximity of the fixture to the tour of the Caribbean, coming three days after the final Test with West Indies, means the party will represent something of a mixed bag.
James Taylor, one of the few to shine during a winter of white-ball misery, has been tipped to lead the side in the absence of the regular one-day captain Eoin Morgan, having spent much of the past four years operating as such for the England Lions, as well as last season’s limited-overs cricket at Nottinghamshire.
Morgan’s absence for a match against the country of his birth is somewhat contentious, with the left-hander granted release from early-season county duties to play in the Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad, along with his fellow World Cup squad member Ravi Bopara. Morgan has featured in two of a possible seven IPL games to date.
With the process under way for the appointment of the newly created director of England Cricket, both the head coach, Peter Moores, and his assistant Paul Farbrace will be keen to impress their prospective new boss and are expected to fly straight from the Caribbean to Dublin to hold training on the Thursday before the match at the Malahide Cricket Club.
There they will run the rule over the next generation of batting talent, with Surrey’s Jason Roy likely to partner Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales at the top of the order. Hampshire’s limited-overs captain, James Vince, and Kent’s aggressive wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings are also expected to come in.
Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ian Bell and Joe Root are all slated to be rested given their likely involvement in the third Test, although reserves such as Jonny Bairstow, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid could be flown home early from Barbados, if not selected, in preparation for the game against William Porterfield’s associate side on 8 May.
Ireland spent much of the recent World Cup voicing their anger at their likely future exclusion from the 10-team tournament in 2019 but, unlike England, can look back on an encouraging campaign, having claimed the scalps of two full member sides in West Indies and Zimbabwe and missing out on the knockout stages on net run rate.
Possible England squad Taylor (capt), Hales, Roy, Vince, Lees, Billings (wkt), Willey, Bairstow (wkt), Rashid, Wood, Plunkett, Ansari, Finn, Rankin
