Harry Brook's fall-guy status reflects rare richness of England white-ball talent

Eight years after leaving Ben Stokes out of their 2015 World Cup squad, England deemed that the only way to accommodate his return for the 2023 edition was to leave another generational talent out. Dropping Harry Brook was, according to selector Luke Wright, "as hard a decision as you're ever going to get".

Brook has only played three ODIs, scoring 0, 80 and 6 in South Africa earlier this year, but his lack of 50-over experience has been due to circumstance rather than any doubt about his ability. His strike-rate in Test cricket (91.76) attests to his suitability to a one-day tempo, and he has thrived in the early stages of his England career.

His omission represents the first major setback he has faced in international cricket. "Everything's going brilliantly with Brooky," Wright said, confirming he is likely to go to India but only as a travelling reserve. "There's no denying what a superstar he is, and what a huge future he's got with us going forwards in all forms."

Which begs the question: why did England leave him out? Brook seemed like a lock for the World Cup only a week ago, but Stokes' return - as a specialist batter, rather than a genuine allrounder - changed the equation.

With nine group games in 37 days and internal flights between venues, England decided that they needed six frontline seamers in the squad and will likely rotate them to mitigate injuries. That meant a squeeze on middle-order batters, and over the course of a three-hour meeting in Nottingham, the selectors decided that Brook was the one to miss out.

It was an unexpected solution, but as a right-hander who is not a viable bowling option, Brook was deemed the most expendable player. With Joe Root, Stokes and Jos Buttler likely to bat at Nos. 3-5, Liam Livingstone was considered to be a more versatile option at No. 6: "Livingstone gives us the option of offspin and legspin as well as that power-hitting," Wright explained.

"We've actually got a lot of middle-order players and our bowling allrounders are middle-order players as well. It was always going to squeeze the balance of the team." England were also keen to include another left-hander in Dawid Malan to counter match-ups, "especially against left-arm spin and legspin".

That meant Brook missed out. "That's the incredibly tough decision we've had to make," Wright added. "I'm sure he's disappointed... But unfortunately in a 15-man squad, someone's going to have to miss out. On this occasion it's been him."

Perhaps a bolder decision would have been to repeat the one they made last year ahead of the T20 World Cup: to drop Jason Roy, who has averaged 31.78 across this World Cup cycle and has looked scratchy in the Hundred. But England put great faith in Roy's ability and his experience, a theme of the squad: "Jonny [Bairstow] and Jase have been one of our best opening partnerships we've ever had," Wright said.

Brook's omission is a harsh call on a fine young player, but as reigning world champions in both white-ball formats, England have grown accustomed to making those. Their first-choice side is so established that it takes a truly exceptional run of form to break into it: Livingstone thrust himself in during his breakthrough summer two years ago, while Malan is set to start as the spare batter despite hitting four hundreds in his last 12 ODIs.

Brook has not done much wrong in white-ball cricket over the last year, though may reflect in time that with more runs across the T20 World Cup in Australia and the IPL, he would have made himself indispensable. Instead, England opted to back their experienced heads and the versatility that they offer.

But unlike Stokes' omission in 2015, which was the result of a failure of management to liberate a world-class talent, Brook's reflects the wealth of experienced batting talent that England have access to. It also highlights the secondary status that 50-over cricket has assumed for them since their World Cup triumph four years ago.

England will play half the number of games between the 2019 and 2023 World Cups (43) as they did between 2015 and 2019 (88) and their best young batter has hardly had an opportunity to press his case. Bilateral series have become contractual obligations fulfilled by half-strength squads: in Stokes' 13 months of ODI retirement, he missed 11 forgettable games.

And domestically, the One-Day Cup has become a second-tier competition, played only by the county cricketers who do not earn contracts in the Hundred. Brook has spent three seasons with Northern Superchargers, meaning that the most recent of his 15 50-over appearances for Yorkshire was in May 2019.

The situation is a little different with England's bowlers. Injury concerns about Jofra Archer and Olly Stone have enabled the uncapped Gus Atkinson to thrust himself into the provisional World Cup squad with only two List A appearances to his name. But their batters are all in their 30s and will rely on muscle memory.

England have often dropped attacking batters in the build-up to World Cups. It used to be a sign of their weakness, instead reverting to the Test players who reflected a cautious, risk-averse mindset. Now, Brook's omission is a sign of their strength.