"Part of the job as captain that is not enjoyable" - Jos Buttler on talks with Jason Roy about omission from England's World Cup 2023 squad
England captain Jos Buttler expressed his dread of communicating the news to opener Jason Roy on the batter missing out on the 15-member World Cup 2023 squad. Roy suffered repeated back spasms, causing him to miss the recent white-ball series against New Zealand.
Despite being part of the provisional World Cup squad, the injury and Harry Brook's ability to bat anywhere in the top six meant Roy was unfortunate to miss out on a second consecutive World Cup. The 33-year-old was also not part of the squad that emerged victorious in last year's T20 World Cup in Australia, with his axing coming just before the mega event owing to poor form.
During a promotional event of England's official kit supplier Castore, Buttler said:
"I don't think any time is easy. It's part of the job as captain that is not enjoyable, whether they're great friends or not, it's not a nice job to do. It's my responsibility to give that news. He's a really great mate of mine so it was a really tough call to make."
Buttler added that Roy will be the top-order reserve batter that comes in should one of the batters get injured.
"Jason will be the top-order reserve, absolutely," he said. "Harry, 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. But good players miss out, it's the very brutal nature of sport."
"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," he concluded.
Roy was integral to England winning their maiden ODI World Cup at home in 2019, scoring 443 runs at an average of 63.28 and a strike rate of 115.36, with a century and four half-centuries.
The 33-year-old has played 116 ODIs for England, with over 4,200 runs at an average of almost 40 and an incredible 105.53 strike rate.
Meanwhile, Brook has struggled in the 50-over format, averaging a mere 20.50 in six games, including a dismal series recently against New Zealand.
"It just shows his hunger to play" - Jos Buttler on Joe Root
Jos Buttler praised star batter Joe Root for his hunger to perform after he opted to play the Ireland ODIs before the ODI World Cup. The 32-year-old had a dismal series against New Zealand, scoring a mere 39 runs at an average of less than 10 and a strike rate of 60.93.
Having played only 19 ODI games for England over the last four years, Root appeared short of confidence in the 50-over format against New Zealand, leading him to opt into the squad about to face Ireland.
"It just shows his hunger to play. He's someone who over the last four years because of the schedule probably hasn't played as much 50-over cricket as he would like," Buttler said. "He's an experienced guy and he knows what he needs. He's arguably the best player in our team and he just knows what he needs to get ready. It was very simple for all involved."
England play three ODIs against Ireland at home starting on Wednesday before traveling to India for the World Cup.
They will begin their World Cup defense against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 5.