England white-ball head coach Matthew Mott has said that he is hoping Ben Stokes will make a U-turn on his ODI retirement ahead of the World Cup, and indicated that Jofra Archer could be selected even if he is only able to feature in some of the competition.

Stokes hasn’t played for England in ODIs since mid-2021, when he called it quits citing an “unsustainable” workload.

“Three formats are just unsustainable for me now,” he said. “Not only do I feel that my body is letting me down because of the schedule and what is expected of us, but I also feel that I am taking the place of another player who can give Jos and the rest of the team their all.”

Stokes remains vital for England in both Test and T20I cricket, but Mott indicated that his responsibilities could be lessened if he is picked as a specialist batter only. Harry Brook, Dawid Malan and Ben Duckett are England’s other likely options at No.4, but England’s form has been iffy in his absence.

“There has not been a clear direction on what he’s going to do yet, but we are still hopeful,” Mott told the Daily Mail. “I’ve always said his bowling would be a bonus, but just look at what he brings with the bat, even in the field. Watching him throughout the whole Ashes series, he had such a great presence. He’s done it for years when it comes to performing in one-day cricket and so he’s an invaluable commodity.”

Stokes was Player of the Match in the 2019 World Cup final, but it was Archer who closed out the game with a nerveless Super Over, and who was England’s leading wicket-taker in the competition in his first summer as an international cricketer. His career has been plagued by injury since, with a six-wicket haul on return in South Africa earlier this year followed by a recurrence of the elbow injury that has hampered him.

Mott said that England would be prepared to use Archer only occasionally, given the quality and high pace he brings.

“There is a high chance that we will take risk on a proven performer that has done it on the world stage,” he said. “We are planning for him to be available. Obviously, a lot of things have to go his way and it will be a tight timeline but with players like that you are going to give them every opportunity to prove their fitness, and so we will keep an open mind.

“It would be a big ask for him to play every game, so we would have to target specific ones, but we are big on ball speed for India, we feel like that’s a really important asset for us to have out there and it will be good to see Mark Wood, who had such an impact in the Ashes, do the same with the white ball.”

England are expected to pick an 18-strong preliminary World Cup squad on Tuesday, which will be pruned by three by the start of the tournament. They will also name a group for the New Zealand series that precedes the competition.