Carse will arrive in Bangalore ahead of England's match against Sri Lanka on Thursday, though is unlikely to be considered for selection having last played competitively four weeks ago. He featured in one of England's four ODIs against New Zealand last month after impressing in the T20I series, and also played for their second-string side against Ireland.

Carse, 28, was born in South Africa but is a UK passport-holder who plays for Durham and Northern Superchargers in domestic cricket. A tall, powerful seamer who can also contribute with the bat from the lower order, he has won 12 ODI caps and three T20I caps since making his debut in 2021.

England had swiftly and unceremoniously moved on from Plunkett after the last World Cup, when he was 34, and Carse is the closest like-for-like replacement that they have used in the four years since. "He almost feels like a junior Plunkett," Root said. "He's very similar. Pudsy [Plunkett] might not like me saying this, but he's probably got even more to offer with the bat as well."

"The situation we find ourselves in now, we've got to make sure that we're ready and in the best possible place to perform well in the next game," Root told Sky Sports. "We'll look at that as a World Cup final now - then do the same for the game after that, and the game after that. All we've got to do is really focus on Sri Lanka.

"I've played in a number of different England teams, good ones and bad ones," Root said. "This is one of the very best. It's a very together team. We know what we need to do We've got some very simple messaging in front of us right now: we have to go out and win. In some ways, that unshackles us and frees us up to do what we do."