Joe Root returns for England’s Champions Trophy campaign

Joe Root has been recalled to England’s ODI squad for February’s ICC Champions Trophy, as well as the 50-over leg of the India series that precedes it, in the first big call of Brendon McCullum‘s tenure as head coach across red- and white-ball formats.

Root, who turns 34 later this month, is set to finish 2024 as the No. 1-ranked Test batter in the world, after a stellar personal year in the format in which he racked up 1556 runs at 55.57, including six centuries.

However, he has not featured in the white-ball set-up for more than a year, since England’s disastrous World Cup defence in India in October and November 2023. He made 276 runs at 30.66 in the team’s group-stage exit at that event, well below his career average of 47.60 in the format, but in keeping with a clear dip (666 runs at 28.95) in 28 ODIs since his pivotal role in the 2019 World Cup win.

Ben Stokes, Root’s Test captain and fellow World Cup winner, might also have been in the frame for a recall but was not considered for selection following the left hamstring injury that he sustained during England’s 423-run defeat against New Zealand in last week’s third Test in Hamilton.

However, in a strong indication of McCullum’s desire to unite the philosophies of his red- and white-ball squads, the 15-man party features a total of eight players who made appearances in the Test team this year, while each of the squad’s five fast bowlers is capable of speeds in excess of 90mph. These include Jofra Archer, whose injury-free return to action in 2024 has encouraged the belief that he too could make a red-ball comeback next summer.

Mark Wood, England’s fastest bowler, is back in the set-up, having been forced to miss England’s winter Test tours after sustaining an elbow injury in the summer. Like Gus Atkinson, another inclusion, he has not played ODI cricket since the tour of West Indies in December last year, having also played a part in the 2023 World Cup campaign.

Brydon Carse, the outstanding fast bowler of England’s Test winter, has been given the chance to build on his impressive form, as has Saqib Mahmood, who confirmed his return to full fitness in the Caribbean last month, after twin stress fractures of the back in 2022 and 2023.

Jamie Overton completes a notably heavy-duty pace-bowling contingent, with England’s determination to manage him through his own recent stress fractures meaning he even played as a specialist death-overs batter in several recent white-ball contests. He is known to McCullum too for his batting, having made 97 as a nightwatcher in his only Test to date, against New Zealand at Headingley in 2022.

Tellingly, there is no place for Sam Curran, England’s player of the match and tournament when they won the T20 World Cup in 2022, but who voiced his concern earlier this year that, as a sub-6ft medium-pacer, he didn’t “fit that mould” that McCullum’s regime is currently looking for.

Reece Topley, another left-armer who has been a staple of England’s recent white-ball squads, has also been overlooked after a luckless run of injuries, while fellow seamer Matthew Potts, who has impressed in his intermittent outings across formats but is arguably a notch below the pace of England’s chosen quicks, has also missed the cut.

Adil Rashid retains his place as England’s premier spinner, with back-up likely to come from Root, Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell, who has been selected for his first major tournament, having last month been handed a two-year ECB central contract in recognition of his rapid rise to prominence. Rehan Ahmed, Rashid’s heir apparent, will travel to India for the T20Is in January, with Root sitting out that leg of the tour.

Phil Salt and Ben Duckett are England’s probable opening partnership, having combined with some success against Australia in September. Will Jacks is the notable omission among top-order options.

Jamie Smith – who missed England’s Test tour of New Zealand for the birth of his first child – returns as a middle-order batter and could keep wicket too, if captain Jos Buttler chooses to relinquish the gloves, as he did for the recent T20I series in the Caribbean.

Much remains to be seen when England line up for their first ODI against India at Nagpur on February 6, where Buttler – like so many of the squad – will be playing his first ODIs in more than a year, having missed the English home season with a calf injury.

England’s exact schedule for the Champions Trophy is awaiting confirmation, following the long-standing dispute over Pakistan hosting India fixtures that resulted last week in the adoption of a hybrid model for future ICC events. However, the squad departs for India on January 17, ahead of the first of five T20Is in Kolkata on January 22.