Stokes named in England squad for Pakistan ODIs

Ben Stokes has been named in the England squad for the One-Day International series against Pakistan, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Tuesday (August 16). Mark Wood, who last played an ODI in September last year, was also named on the 15-member squad.

Stokes is recovering from a calf injury that ruled him out of the last two Tests against Pakistan. Wood, on the other hand, has recovered from an ankle injury that cut short his stint in the United Arab Emirates with the England squad last year. He had to undergo a surgery.

"Ben's made really significant progress over the last three weeks and our medical team are pleased," James Whitaker, the national selector, said. "He's progressing nicely towards bowling over the next week or so, and while we hope that initially he might just play as a batter he will lead into the series as an all-rounder eventually.

"He's worked really hard on his rehab and it's given everyone a lot of confidence. To have him around again will be a huge bonus for Eoin Morgan and his team.

"Mark Wood has had a couple of operations, and with his hard work and advice from our medical team he's now able to take part in this series. Just over the last month he's progressed very well and we're very happy for him. We got him back into the Lions initially, he'd just played a couple of games for Durham before, and he played really well for the Lions and he's continued that form since."

Morgan and Jos Buttler, who fractured his thumb during a Natwest Twenty20 games last month, are expected to recover just in time for the series as well.

Liam Dawson has been handed an England call-up after his impressive performances for Hampshire. The left-arm spinner played one Twenty20 International for England last month against Sri Lanka and returned figures of 3 for 27.

Whitaker acknowledged he was impressed by Dawson's consistency. "He came into the squad for that one-off game and really impressed," he said. "He'd previously impressed the coaches on the Performance Programme in the winter, and over the last two years he's been very consistent for Hampshire. So it's good for him and I'm really pleased he might get a go."

Squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.