The door is open for test captain Ben Stokes to end his retirement from one-day internationals and join England’s title defence at the 50-overs World Cup in India later this year, white-ball coach Matthew Mott said.
Stokes was named Player of the Match in the 2019 World Cup final when England beat New Zealand at Lord’s and was its top-scorer in the final of the T20 World Cup in Australia last year.
He decided to quit one-day cricket last year citing his workload but Mott said he would be happy to discuss the situation if things changed ahead of the World Cup in October-November.
“The door is always open for a player of that quality but we are also very aware that his main focus is red-ball cricket as the captain,” Mott told reporters ahead of the three-match ODI series in South Africa beginning on Friday.
“We respect that and when he’s ready to chat, we’ll do that.”
Mott said he had discussed the issue with limited-overs captain Jos Buttler and director of England men’s cricket Rob Key and they had not set a cut-off date for Stokes to make up his mind. “…we have to be really flexible and open-minded with our players and when we sit down to pick these 15 guys for the World Cup, we want to pick the best possible players.” he added.
Ahead of the series against South Africa, Mott said fit speedster Geoffra Archer was “bubbling to play” after nearly two years on the touchline.
“Having watched him from afar, I think he’s one of the most exciting things that’s happened to cricket in the last decade,” Mott said.
“The best I can say is that we have a general plan for what it (Archer’s schedule) will look like. “We will work with him and see how his body copes.