'Not enjoyable': Jos Buttler reveals intricate details of his phone call with Jason Roy

Jos Buttler, the white-ball captain of the England cricket team, assumed the difficult responsibility of personally informing Jason Roy that he had been left out of the upcoming ODI World Cup squad. This decision was communicated to Roy by Buttler via a phone call last weekend, with head coach Matthew Mott also reaching out shortly afterward. Roy had initially been included in the provisional squad but was sidelined due to back spasms, resulting in his exclusion from the final 15-man squad.

3 things you need to know

• The ODI World Cup 2023 will be held in India from October 5 to November 19
• England will kick start their campaign in the opening match against New Zealand
• The match will be played at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad

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Jos Buttler reveals details of his chat with Jason Roy

This marked the second time that Buttler had to deliver the disappointing news of Roy missing out on a major tournament, as he had also been omitted from the T20 World Cup squad last year. Reflecting on the tough task, Buttler expressed that it was a challenging phone call to make, regardless of the personal relationship between them.

"I don't think any time is easy. It's part of the job as captain that is not enjoyable, whether they're great friends or not, it's not a nice job to do. I certainly feel like it's my responsibility to give that news. He's a really great mate of mine so it was a really tough call to make. Jason will be the top-order reserve, absolutely. Harry, we do feel gives us versatility: he can cover Nos. 1 to 6 in the batting order, which is obviously something that's advantageous in a squad," Buttler said. 

"But good players miss out, it's the very brutal nature of sport. There's plenty of people outside the 15 who will have felt that they were in with a really good chance of a spot. It's a bad headache to have but a good problem as a selection committee when you have a deep pool of players to choose from," he added. While England has asked Roy to be on standby in case of an injury to a top-order batsman during the World Cup, he will not travel with the main squad to India. Instead, Harry Brook will be readily available as the backup batsman in the squad.

Also Read: England Announce Final 15-member Squad For ICC ODI World Cup, Include Snubbed Youngster

England's squad for 2023 ODI World Cup

Jos Buttler (C), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes. 

Image: AP