“Obviously it’s disappointing but I can’t do anything about it now,” Brook said. “You’ve just got to move on. I’m trying not to think about it anymore.
“I’ve not had much conversation with Matthew [Mott] or Jos [Buttler]. They said with Stokesy coming back I was probably going to miss out this time. He is one of the best players to ever play cricket, so I can’t really complain, can I?
“I feel like I’m playing well at the minute and feel I could potentially add value to the team. [But] there’s always something more you could do.”
Brook has only played three ODIs for England – all of them against South Africa in early 2023 – and last played a 50-over game for Yorkshire in 2019, with the domestic competition clashing with the Hundred in the last three seasons.
“I haven’t had much opportunity to play one-day cricket, whether that be for Yorkshire or England,” Brook said, “and although I’ve played a lot of T20 cricket, I don’t know if I’ve done as well as I have in the past in the last six months, so that might have had an effect.”
Brook’s omission has taken pundits off-guard since the squad was announced. Jofra Archer, working for the BBC, learned that Brook was not part of the provisional World Cup squad live on-air before Southern Brave played Birmingham Phoenix on Thursday night. “I didn’t even realise that Brooky was not there… that’s just got me a bit stunned,” Archer said.
Kevin Pietersen, meanwhile, said that he would have selected Brook ahead of Dawid Malan, suggesting that Malan would not be suited to playing on the subcontinent. “I’m absolutely flabbergasted that he cannot make England’s World Cup squad,” Pietersen said on Sky Sports. “Flabbergasted. Because he is pure quality. I just cannot believe it.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo