England’s three-match ODI series against South Africa, beginning on Tuesday, marks their first assignment in the format since winning the World Cup last July. It’s time to begin preparations for the 2023 Cricket World Cup, to be held in India..

Wisden writers Phil Walker, Jo Harman, James Wallace and Ben Gardner have decided to peer into the crystal ball and predict the squad that will fly over to play in the 2023 Cricket World Cup. 

Jo Harman, Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine editor

Jos Buttler (c & wk)
Jofra Archer
Jonny Bairstow
Tom Banton
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Sam Hain
Saqib Mahmood
Matt Parkinson
Ollie Pope
Hamidullah Qadri
Joe Root
Jason Roy
Ben Stokes
Chris Woakes

Eight of England’s triumphant 2019 squad have the chance to make it two World Cup titles on the bounce. Tom Banton has broken up England’s greatest ever opening pair, with Bairstow and Roy fighting it out to partner the two-time winner of the IPL orange cap. Joe Root just holds off the challenge of Sam Hain for the anchor role at No.3 – that extra spin option will be useful in India – before we’re into the engine room of Pope, Stokes and Buttler, who’s skippering the side.

With Stokes playing more or less as a specialist batsman, just bowling the odd fiery spell when his body allows it, Sam Curran takes the all-rounder spot at No.7, offering seam support to the new-ball pairing of Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood.

There’s a youthful look to the spin department – Hamidullah Qadri, Kent’s 22-year-old Afghan-born off-spinner, in cahoots with Matt Parkinson. Hampshire stalwart Liam Dawson, MVP at the 2022 Royal London One-Day Cup, is on standby. Plenty of experience on the bench, including the 33-year-old veteran Chris Woakes, sporting a beard to rival Mike Brearley circa 1980.

Phil Walker, Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief

Jos Buttler (c & wk)
Jofra Archer
Jonny Bairstow
Tom Banton
James Bracey
Mason Crane
Tom Curran
Sam Hain
Daniel Lawrence
Saqib Mahmood
Matt Parkinson
Ollie Pope
Jason Roy
Ben Stokes
Olly Stone

Buttler will have taken over from Sir Eoin. Joe Root’s Ashes-fixation swallowed up what was left of his short-form game some time in the autumn of 2021. With nothing more to achieve but nothing else to do, Bairstow and Roy move in a daze, carving blankly over cover, once more with feeling. James Bracey, young, willowy, cack-handed and an excellent keeper, has almost prised them apart, but not quite yet, while Tom Banton gave up trying years ago and coolly waits his turn, rich beyond his wildest dreams. Sam Hain is now immoveable at No.4, just behind Ollie Pope, whose 76.81 average (SR: 98.02) must dip soon. Stokes bats five, Buttler six, forever.

Dan Lawrence slips in at No.7 on account of his filthy wristwork and weirdly useful right-arm-Essex. Mahmood and Archer take the new ball, with the world-class leggie Matt Parkinson (and Mason Crane) backing them up, leaving Olly Stone and Tom Curran to the task of unhooking their arms from those pesky yellow bibs. If any of this doesn’t happen, you can have my badge.

Ben Gardner, wisden.com staff writer

Jos Buttler (c & wk)
Jofra Archer
Jonny Bairstow
Tom Banton
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Liam Dawson
Will Jacks
Saqib Mahmood
Jamie Overton
Matt Parkinson
Joe Root
Jason Roy
Nathan Sowter
Ben Stokes

First, those axed from the 2019 World Cup squad. Moeen Ali will be tired of the bulls*** and sack it in for a life racking it in around the world; Adil Rashid’s shoulder and Mark Wood’s heel will, heartbreakingly, have the final say; and the Sam Curran/Chris Woakes debate will split the nation in the lead-up.

On the newbies, Tom Banton’s a given; Will Jacks will come good on the KP comparisons; Saqib Mahmood will take up the Liam Plunkett gamebreaker role; and Jamie Overton brings the pace, with some big hits thrown in for good measure. Two leg-spinners is a bold call, but there’s a dearth of young white-ball finger-spinners in the country that is woefully under-talked-about, and Matt Parkinson and Nathan Sowter are different enough in style for it not to matter so much.

Liam Dawson will play between one and three ODIs between now and the start of the tournament, be selected as a steady pair of hands should Sowter roll an ankle in the warm-up, and it will be without doubt the right call.

James Wallace, Wisden writer

Jos Buttler (c & wk)
Moeen Ali
Jofra Archer
Jonny Bairstow
Tom Banton
Sam Curran
Saqib Mahmood
Matt Parkinson
Ollie Pope
Adil Rashid
Joe Root
Jason Roy
Ben Stokes
Chris Woakes
Mark Wood

It’s increasingly become a squad-based game and I think this covers all bases, with a nice mix of experience and raw talent. Two of the most destructive will go up top (Banton and Roy), followed by a couple of the classiest (Root and Pope) and then a brace of deadly finishers (Stokes and Buttler).

Woakes will be slightly younger than Liam Plunkett was in 2019 and has the beard, bulked up frame and the reliability to bowl the all-important ‘dead dog overs’ that Plunkett was so adept at.

Archer and Mahmood offer genuine pace/guile, and there’s plenty of spin options on Indian wickets. Bairstow is on the bench to inspire a Michael Douglas in ‘Falling Down’ fury of form; he’ll probably blitz some match-winning centuries when he gets his chance. Jos is captain, has to be. I’d like Morgan to be involved somehow, maybe as ‘Specialist Vibe Coach’? A sort of ‘Eoin-Wan-Kenobi’ or ‘inverted Cummings’ figure in the background just emitting an aura of calm and clinical in equal measure. Beanie or hood optional.