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England selectors are reportedly set to consider picking Joe Root and Ben Stokes in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 squad. Root and Stokes haven’t played any 50-over cricket since the ODI World Cup 2023 in India, and these two English stalwarts are not a part of the upcoming five-match series against Australia at home this September either.
Notably, the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, an eight-team tournament, will be played in Pakistan from February 19 to March 9. Before that, England will play two ODI series in West Indies and India as part of their preparation, and as per their current schedule, Ben Stokes and Joe Root are slated to miss them.
With England set to travel to Pakistan and New Zealand on Test tours, it is highly likely that Joe Root and Ben Stokes won’t make it to the ODI tour in West Indies. At the start of 2025, Root and Stokes will be playing for Paarl Royals and MI Cape Town respectively, in the SA20, a franchise T20 tournament, which will clash with England’s ODI series against India.
It could lead to the English selectors pulling out Joe Root and Ben Stokes from the latter stages of the SA20, to have them playing some ODI cricket before the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
We will be able to pick our strongest side come Champions Trophy: England selector Luke Wright
England selector Luke Wright was quoted as saying about the matter at Lord’s, as per ESPNcricinfo, “We'll want to be as strong as possible. There's no Test cricket around at that point, so it gives us an opportunity to play our strongest team. The schedule over this next period up until Christmas is crazy, so there will be opportunities for guys to stake their claim. But come the Champions Trophy, we will be able to pick our strongest side.”
Luke Wright also talked about Joe Root, and said, “He's given a lot to English cricket. There's no reason why he can't then come into the major tournaments… we know how important Joe is to the England team. He also offers us [something] with the ball as well, and there's not many that do that… With someone like Joe, we've got to look after him, we don't want him to burn out.”
