When England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced their 15-member provisional squad for the upcoming ODI World Cup last week, there was a notable omission in it.

Harry Brook, who is widely regarded as one of the finest young batters in world cricket, failed to make a cut.

Since Ben Stokes reversed his ODI retirement decision, the defending champions decided to exclude Brook from the line-up despite his recent impressive performance.

Meanwhile, England skipper Jos Buttler has said that Brook still has a chance to travel to India for the quadrennial event.

As per the ICC regulations, the World Cup squads must be finalized prior to September 28.

"There's still a long time before everyone's meant to get on the plane so we'll wait and see what happens," Buttler said on Friday (August 25).

"We all know Harry's a fantastic player and we saw what he can do the other night. It's not like it's a surprise, we know what a brilliant player he is.

"He's just the unfortunate one at the moment to not be in that squad. Ben Stokes coming back and being available just as a batter changes the dynamic a little bit," he added.

Notably, Stokes, who was part of England’s ODI World Cup triumph in 2019, had called time on his 50-over career in July last year, citing that he was not able to give his 100 percent and playing all three formats amid a busy schedule is "unsustainable" for him.

However, the all-rounder made a U-turn on his retirement call and England are more than happy to greet him back into the ODI squad.

"Ben's a fantastic player to be able to welcome back," Buttler said. "It's a really tough selection, there have been players performing really well over a period of time and that's where we are at the minute."

England will begin their 2023 World Cup campaign against New Zealand on October 5 in Ahmedabad.

(With Reuters Inputs)