He requested to be part of the squad as he aims to regain his form in the 50-over format before the World Cup next month in India. Root faced difficulties in maintaining his performance throughout England’s series against New Zealand, where they secured a 3-1 series victory.

Initially, England’s squad for the Ireland match did not include any of the players from their provisional 15-man World Cup squad. Luke Wright, England’s national selector, said that Root had “asked to be involved” in Wednesday’s first ODI.

Wright emphasized Root’s desire to keep improving, stating, “Like for a lot of people, he is getting that rhythm of 50-over cricket,” Wright said. “Obviously we don’t play [much of] it in this country, but a lot of those lads haven’t played a lot of 50-over cricket, especially someone like Joe.

“He just wanted a bit more time. It’s a great thing for someone to still have that desire to keep wanting to do more and more. It shows where he’s at with his game and what makes him such a world-class player that, when he doesn’t feel quite right, he still wants to tinker and do more. As much as we probably thought he needed a break as well, he just wanted another go.”

Harry Brook was recently added to the World Cup squad in place of Jason Roy. Consequently, Brook will not be playing in the Ireland series, as he needs some rest after a busy summer of cricket in various formats.

When justifying the choice to give Harry Brook a break following a relatively uneventful series against New Zealand, Wright said, “You only have to look at what he’s had on this summer. He’s had one of the busiest summers out of everyone from the Ashes, into the Hundred and then these series.

“It would be silly of us to not give him a break. You always have to look at how much more batting does someone need versus what mental break do they need. I think in this case, we wanted to give him that break before the World Cup so he’s going to rest for that Ireland series.” he concluded.

England squad for Ireland ODIs: Zak Crawley (c), Ben Duckett (vc), Rehan Ahmed, Joe Root (1st ODI only), Brydon Carse, Sam Hain, Will Jacks, Craig Overton, Matthew Potts, Phil Salt, George Scrimshaw, Jamie Smith, Luke Wood.