Ben Stokes is part of England’s ODI squad for the upcoming series against Australia
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England have included all-rounder Ben Stokes and opener Alex Hales in their squad for the five-match ODI series against Australia, which gets underway on January 14 in Melbourne.
However, while the duo have made the cut, there is a possibility that neither of them will actually play in the series.
Stokes, who is currently playing for Canterbury in New Zealand, was withdrawn from the Ashes squad following his alleged involvement in a street fight outside a nightclub in Bristol back in September. He is currently waiting to see whether the Crown Prosecution Service will advise police to charge him.
Hales, who was with Stokes during the incident, was recently cleared of any wrongdoing and was given the green light by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to represent the national team again.
That being said, the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) could still take action against Hales.
However, England head coach Trevor Bayliss admitted that Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow are set to open the batting for England in the ODI series as they have both been in excellent form as of late.
“We’ve been playing some good one-day cricket and Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy at the top of the order have played well,” Bayliss said. “I can’t see any changes there personally. The two openers we had did very well and it would be difficult to go against them.
“We could bring Hales back in and drop one of those guys down, but then it would upset someone else. We’ve got to take a decision now and I just think the best way to go is with the two guys who have taken over.”
While England have opted for a full-strength team for ODIs against Australia, Bayliss confirmed that players will be rested for the Twenty20 tri-series competition that follows. As a result, up-and-coming players like Craig Overton, who made his international debut in the second Ashes Test in Adelaide, could be given an opportunity to prove their worth.
“History will tell you that the winners of the World Cup have come from the top two ranked teams,” Bayliss said. “We want to play well and get ourselves high up that order as we possibly can.
“At the same time, we’re still two years away and there might be some younger players, like Craig Overton for example, who comes into the team and does well.
“We’ll keep a check on players such as Joe Root and Moeen Ali in this Test series and the one-dayers. Hopefully, if all goes to plan, they’ll play these five Test matches and the five one-dayers as well and then we’ll look at giving them a break.”
Meanwhile, Bayliss also revealed that there have discussions about how to avoid any more negative publicity after the alleged incident involving Stokes and Bairstow headbutting Australia opener Cameron Bancroft.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of scrutiny,” Bayliss said. “We won’t know it actually until it comes along. There’s been a fair bit of scrutiny that’s come along with it in the first five or six weeks of this tour as well. But we’ve got to adjust to that at some stage.
“Look, we have discussed what will happen when Ben returns, but whenever he comes back that’s going to be a bit of a circus for sure. Whether it’s any more of a circus than we’ve already seen on this tour is hard to say. If it happens, let’s just get on with it and take it on the chin.”