England have made one change to the XI that lost by five runs against South Africa in the second ODI at Lord’s, bringing in Jamie Overton for Saqib Mahmood. This will be Overton’s first game since announcing his break from red-ball cricket to focus on the shorter formats.
Overton will form the pace attack with Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse, while Adil Rashid remains the sole specialist spinner. This means England will have to rely on Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell, who conceded 112 runs for one wicket in the second ODI, and possibly Joe Root to divide the ten overs between them, as a genuine fifth bowling option remains absent once more.
Ben Duckett, who has been released for the T20I series against both South Africa and Ireland to give him some respite amid struggles with his form, is also part of the team. Duckett had a fantastic red-ball series against India in July, scoring 462 runs across five games, including a century in the first match. Prior to the Test series, he scored three fifties in the white-ball series in the Caribbean. However, his form has dwindled since then, with a dismal Hundred season followed by two ODIs against South Africa, where he made 5 off 8 and an uglier 14 off 33.
It is understood that Duckett held discussions with Brendan McCullum which led to the pair deciding his exclusion from the upcoming series.
England’s assistant coach, Marcus Trescothick, said the decision was made to ensure Duckett is back in rhythm ahead of the Ashes series in November.
“Brendon spoke to him over the last few days, trying to get a gauge of where he’s at,” Trescothick said. “You look at every situation individually and in its own way, looking at the volume of cricket they’ve played and by chatting with them to see how they’re feeling… This is the best [decision] to maximise performances going forward as we head into a big winter.
“We need certain players to be firing, and Ben is certainly one of those… We need the boys firing going into November, December, January. That’s an important time. It’s not to say things aren’t important coming up, but sometimes you just have to take your foot off the gas a bit and rejuvenate the mind. Then, you can get back on the horse and crack on.”
England have played 22 ODIs since the 2023 ODI World Cup. Out of these 22, they have won only seven, which saw them drop to No. 8 in the ICC rankings, sandwiched between West Indies and Bangladesh. McCullum’s appointment as the white-ball coach was thought to signal a new era for England in limited-over formats. However, with the side’s streak of defeats still intact, especially in one-dayers, McCullum seems to be in for a long haul.
“We’re in an interesting position where we need to climb those rankings,” Trescothick said. “Longer term, there’s a bigger picture: we need to look at being at the top of those rankings and beyond. We want to go and compete in the biggest competitions, and we’ve got to be a team that has grown from where we have been to compete like we did in 2019.
“The journey hasn’t been easy, of course not, but I definitely feel we’re improving and moving in the right direction even though the last two results have been disappointing… We’ve made a few changes in recent times since Brendon took over, and we feel like we’re starting to play better cricket generally.”
The defeat at Lord’s was England’s fourth on the bounce against South Africa, having lost two earlier during the 2023 World Cup in India and Champions Trophy earlier this year.
England XI for the third ODI vs South Africa:
Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.
