England have called up nine uncapped players including Zak Crawley, Will Jacks and Brydon Carse for their upcoming ODI series against Pakistan after the entire first-choice squad was forced to self-isolate two days before the first fixture in Cardiff.
Ben Stokes will captain England for the first time in limited-overs cricket, returning to international duty ahead of schedule following a finger injury, while Chris Silverwood returns from a scheduled break as head coach.
Several squad members have recent experience in the Test set-up, including Crawley, Dan Lawrence and Craig Overton. The majority of the squad have been on England tours or on standby as reserves over the last year, with Gloucestershire's left-arm seamer David Payne and Middlesex wicketkeeper-batter John Simpson the two exceptions.
There is no international recall for Alex Hales, who has not played for England since failing a second recreational drugs test shortly before the 2019 World Cup. Joe Clarke, Hales' Nottinghamshire team-mate, is self-isolating as a close contact of someone who tested positive for Covid, so was unavailable for selection. It is unclear if he would have been considered. Chris Jordan (groin) and Ollie Pope (thigh) both have minor injuries.
Sam Hain, who has the highest List A average (59.78) among batters to have played more than 50 innings, is another notable omission.
Dawid Malan is available for selection after missing the ODI series against Sri Lanka for personal reasons, while Danny Briggs is in line for a first England cap in any format since 2014 if selected. Lewis Gregory and Phil Salt are both named in the squad despite recent injury concerns which saw them miss the ongoing round of County Championship fixtures.
The 18-man group features six players who have yet to be capped in any format for England - Carse, Tom Helm, Jacks, Payne, Salt and Simpson. Aside from Stokes, who has made 98 ODI appearances, the next most-experienced player is seamer Jake Ball, who won the last of his 18 caps in 2018.
Members of the squad who were involved in Championship games this week have been pulled out of ongoing matches and will be replaced by their respective counties. They will be required to take PCR tests and "follow bridging protocols to ensure safe entry to camp", according to an ECB statement.
Ashley Giles, the managing director of England men's cricket, said: "It's a great opportunity to play on the biggest stage, and for most of the players selected it's not necessarily something they would have been expecting 24 hours ago.
"It's an exciting group of players, with some young talent and some players who have impressed at domestic level over a long period of time. We're in unprecedented territory, in terms of replacing an entire squad and management team, and I'm very proud of how everyone has come together in order to get it done - both those within the ECB and from the county game.
"Ben hasn't captained our ODI side before so it's a huge honour for him. We all wish him well and it's a role I'm sure he'll thrive in. I'd like to also put on record the thanks of the ECB to the PCB for their support and understanding during this time."
England ODI squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Jake Ball, Danny Briggs, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Lewis Gregory, Tom Helm, Will Jacks, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Matt Parkinson, David Payne, Phil Salt, John Simpson, James Vince
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
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