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What's the story?
England have been forced to make big changes in their ODI squad for the series versus Ireland and Pakistan as both their openers, Jason Roy and Alex Hales, will be unable to take part in the ODI matches. The selectors have named three players as their replacements in the squad.
The background
The hosts of the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019 will play an ODI game against Ireland and a T20 and ODI series versus Pakistan before the mega-event. However, it seems like England will not be able to make the most out of the series as many players of their first choice playing XI will be missing.
The heart of the matter
England's star opener Alex Hales was handed a 21-day ban for failing a second drugs test. Meanwhile, his partner Jason Roy has suffered an untimely back injury. Accordingly, the English team was left with no other option but to name their replacements in the squad.
England have announced Ben Duckett, Dawid Malan and James Vince as the replacements. While Vince was a part of the squad against Ireland and the T20I games versus Pakistan, he has now been added to the ODI squad for the Pakistan series as well.
Duckett has not made his T20I debut yet but he has played 4 Tests and 3 ODIs. On the other hand, Malan has never played an ODI game in his career despite having represented England in 15 Tests and 5 T20Is.
Duckett has not played international cricket since November 2016 whereas Malan will make his return to the English team after almost 10 months. Even Vince has not played an international game since February 2018.
Though these players have been in good touch in domestic cricket, it will be intriguing to see how they perform while donning the English jersey.
Updated squad for Pakistan ODIs: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, James Vince Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood,
Updated squad for Ireland ODI and Pakistan T20I: Eoin Morgan (c), Jofra Archer, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, James Vince, David Willey, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Ben Duckett
What's next?
The World Cup preparations of the English team have certainly taken a setback with the recent developments. But given the way the team has performed in the past 3 years, it is highly unlikely any of this will impact their World Cup campaign.
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