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• England’s ODI with Ireland at Headingley abandoned due to rain

  Joe Root’s hopes of a final World Cup warm-up were ruined by the rain as England’s first Metro Bank ODI against Ireland was abandoned without a ball bowled.

  With the first-choice squad all rested ahead of next week’s departure for India, Root requested to be added to the team for the series opener at his home ground of Headingley.

  He had endured four lean matches against New Zealand and was keen to find some rhythm before the tournament but persistent showers washed the match out at 4.50pm, more than four hours after the scheduled start.

  The umpires were unhappy with saturated areas on the outfield, which were seen as a potential safety concern, while there were also worries about the bowlers’ run-ups.

• England captain Zak Crawley happy to have Joe Root available against Ireland

  England are casting an eye towards their white-ball future this week against Ireland, but first-time skipper Zak Crawley is thankful to have the vastly-experienced Joe Root by his side for the series opener at Headingley.

  With England’s World Cup defence just around the corner – they depart for India next week and begin the tournament on October 5 – Root is the only member of the first-choice squad taking on the Irish.

  He asked to be added to the squad for Wednesday’s first ODI at his home ground, targeting one more innings to find the form that eluded him in the recent matches against New Zealand.

  And the outing should prove mutually beneficial, with Root bringing 162 caps and a decade of experience to a squad that is conspicuously callow. The remaining 12 players have just 38 one-day appearances between them at international level, with four uncapped newcomers and three more who have turned out exactly once.

  Crawley himself is barely any further along, with his three ODIs coming two summers ago as a result of Covid withdrawals, and he is more than happy to have the old, familiar face of his first Test captain on hand.

  “I love spending time with Rooty. To have him in the side as a batsman and former captain is going to be tremendously useful for me and the team,” he said.

  “It’s great having him here. Especially so for me as captain, because I can lean on him for that kind of stuff. I played under him for a long time and stood next to him at slip when he was Test captain. It’s great to have him in the team and I will look to him. He’s a great cricket brain and experienced guy.

  “No-one works harder than Joe, that’s why he’s the best. We all try to emulate him as much as we can. He’s a great person to learn from and a role model for us all. I hope he gets what he needs from it too.”

  What Root really needs, after scoring 39 scratchy runs in four innings against the Black Caps, is a chance to feel bat on ball and relocate his timing before jetting off to India. Crawley, for one, expects nothing less.

  “If anyone has forgotten how good he is, that’s their fault,” he said. “He’s just using it to find some rhythm – he’s a big rhythm player.”

  Root is one of 11 in the World Cup squad who are over 30 and one of eight who won the trophy on home soil four years ago. It has been apparent for some time that a changing of the guard is likely to occur sooner rather than later, with Jason Roy’s last-minute removal in favour of Harry Brook a further reminder that the torch will soon be handed over.

  For Crawley and those at his side, the next three games could well be the gateway to future opportunities.

  “We’re trying to get this group to become the main team one day,” he said.

  “We’re looking at the future and trying to emulate those guys above by doing the same things, playing the same positive way and trying to copy them as much as possible. I’ve just got to concentrate on getting runs this week. If I don’t get any runs then that makes it hard to do that.

  “Hopefully I just perform well this week and what comes from there comes from there.”

  Crawley admitted to feeling “shocked” when head coach Matthew Mott invited him to be captain, a rapid promotion for someone who was angling for nothing more ambitious than a place on the teamsheet.

  But it reflects a growing feeling that he is one of the players who will lead English cricket forward in the years to come. When Root resigned from Test duty last year there was a lack of viable alternatives in the next generation, with successor Ben Stokes not only the best choice but the only one.

  Ollie Pope has since been installed as his vice-captain in the red-ball format and Crawley has now joined his old childhood rival on the fast-track. He still remembers captaining his school Tonbridge against Pope’s Cranleigh side.

  “It was a good game but they beat us. Popey got 100, obviously,” he recalled.

  “So I’ve captained growing up and I’ve captained a few times for Kent, but that’s the extent of my experience. The good thing Baz McCullum has done, and Stokesy, is they’ve encouraged everyone to speak up.

  “You feel very comfortable speaking up in the dressing room. More people have come out of the woodwork and led from the front, there’s leaders everywhere you look and that’s a good sign.

  “I remember Shane Warne saying you should always think like a captain when you’re playing, I’ve done that since I was a kid.”

• England offer discarded opener Jason Roy chance to be World Cup injury reserve

  England have offered discarded opener Jason Roy the chance to make himself available as an injury reserve for the World Cup, but accept his selection heartbreak may be too tough to overcome.

  Roy, a crucial part of the trophy-winning 2019 side, was named in a provisional group of 15 for next month’s tournament in India but found himself squeezed out by Harry Brook when the final squad was announced on Sunday.

  The U-turn came after Roy suffered back spasms that ruled him out of the recent New Zealand series, setting in chain a sequence of events that saw understudy Dawid Malan ink his name in at the top of the order and positioned Brook as the most versatile additional batter.

  By axing a player with 116 caps and eight years of experience as a mainstay of the side, England showed a cut-throat approach to defending their 50-over crown and raised uncertainty over Roy’s international future.

  He was offered the chance to join a second-string side for three ODIs against Ireland but turned that down after receiving the crushing news from skipper Jos Buttler over the weekend. National selector Luke Wright made it clear that England still view Roy as an option for the World Cup should one of their top three be ruled out, but that is an olive branch that may not be accepted.

  Roy lost his T20 place before another World Cup last year, cancelled the remainder of his central contract to play Major League Cricket in the United States this summer and may instead find himself weighing up the benefits of retiring from England altogether.

  “As you can imagine, he’s absolutely gutted and I wouldn’t expect anything else. I feel for him, as I feel for anyone you leave out,” said Wright.

  “But we certainly haven’t ruled him out. For Jason now, I’m sure he’s got some thinking to do over the initial disappointment, but we’ve made clear that if there’s an injury at the top of the order, there’s definitely the option for him to come in as the reserve.

  “We’ve made it very clear that we still see him as the man to do that. I don’t think there’s any reason why we wouldn’t. We’ve spoken to him about that and he has time to reflect over the next few days. It is obviously not an easy pill to swallow.”

  England plan to take just one travelling reserve with them on what is a gruelling schedule in India, with Jofra Archer joining the group as part of his continuing rehabilitation from a stress fracture in the right elbow. Others under consideration will be permitted to stay at home until required.

  Wright was sympathetic about Roy’s reluctance to join up with a shadow team to take on the Irish so soon after being ousted, but added that the offer remained open for the second and third games.

  “We’ve given Jason the option of being involved and he still has the option,” said Wright.

  “He wasn’t expecting to be in that Ireland squad and then to get the news that he was missing out on the World Cup all came as a bit of a hammer blow. So we’ve left that with him. The first game at Headingley has come too soon but there is still the option of those last two games. We’ve made it apparent to Jason that we won’t judge him differently for that position as the spare batter at the top of the order whether he plays against Ireland or not. We’ll work on that one over the next few days.”

  One man who will take the field for the first ODI is Joe Root, who requested to play at his home ground despite having the chance to rest up before India. He lacked rhythm against the Black Caps, making just 39 in four innings, and is keen for one last hit on familiar turf before travelling.

  “As much as we thought he probably needed a break, he just wanted another go,” Wright said.

  “It’s great for someone still to have that desire to keep wanting to do more and more. It shows what makes him such a world-class player, that when he doesn’t feel quite right that he still wants to tinker and do more.”