Yorkshire CCC's Harry Brook rewarded for brilliant form with England ODI call-up to face South Africa
Fresh from a starring role in the historic Test victory in Pakistan and the T20 World Cup win, the 23-year-old has been an ever present on England’s hectic winter schedule but has not been rested ahead of the Test trip to New Zealand in February.
Brook was one of a number of stars to shine for England in their recently-completed Test series win in Pakistan, his three centuries going a long way to Ben Stokes’s team securing an historic 3-0 whitewash win.
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Hide AdBrook is joined in the England squad by several familiar faces, most notably fellow Yorkshire players Dawid Malan and Adil Rashid.
And while Joe Root will not be with the team he will not be taking up the option of down time at home. Instead, he is heading for the UAE T20 League which runs for a month from mid-January.
Elsewhere, Jofra Archer is set to make his long-awaited England comeback in the new year.
The pace bowler, who burst on to the scene in stunning fashion in 2019 and played a key role in that summer’s World Cup triumph, has not played international cricket since March 2021 due to injury.
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Hide AdThe 27-year-old suffered a sequence of elbow problems, requiring two operations, and then saw his return to action fall apart when he sustained a stress fracture of the lower back in May.
But he has worked closely with the England and Wales Cricket Board’s medical team throughout his lengthy rehabilitation and joined up with the Lions squad during November’s training camp in November.
He bowled nine overs against the senior England team during their warm-up match in Abu Dhabi, hitting a good pace and raising hopes that he was close to full fitness.
Archer takes his place in a 14-man squad for the three-match tour of South Africa, a rearranged series that was initially abandoned in December 2020 after a Covid-19 scare saw England fly home early.
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Hide AdBen Duckett, who won the last of his eight 50-over caps in 2016, also returns to the fold having re-established himself in the T20 and Test set-ups over recent months.
England’s ODI squad for South Africa: J Buttler (c, wk), M Ali, J Archer, H Brook, S Curran, B Duckett, D Malan, A Rashid, J Roy, P Salt, O Stone, R Topley, D Willey, C Woakes.