England's white-ball head coach Matthew Mott revealed that Test skipper Ben Stokes and in-form batters Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are excited to be reunited in a return to ODIs through the upcoming three-match series against India, starting from Tuesday.
Since the time Stokes took over as Test skipper from Root, England have won all of their four Tests till now, playing a new brand of attacking cricket in the longest format of the game.
A 3-0 sweep of New Zealand by chasing down 277, 299 and 296 was followed by a record 378-chase against India in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston to draw the five-match series 2-2, with Bairstow and Root being heavy contributors with the bat. After a break from the T20I series, the trio will now feature in ODIs against India.
"Coming off the back of a win, it will be even better. We will be looking to them to bring that energy in they've had in the Test series. They're absolutely excited to be back in there. The comments are around 'I can't wait to be back in the coloured clothing'. That's great. They've had a great summer but they still want to keep building on that and get back around this group. We will welcome them back," said Mott to Sky Sports.
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After losing the T20I series to India, England managed to survive a counter-attacking 117 from Suryakumar Yadav to win the final match at Trent Bridge by 17 runs. But what pleased Mott the most was how England's bowlers held their nerve to stall India's chase of 216 in the back end of the match.
"I was really pleased with the way our bowlers held their nerve. It's exactly what we've been talking a lot about, executing under pressure, and I thought we stood up really well today. Everyone who has played here (Trent Bridge) knows that total was very gettable. At halfway, we felt like we'd done a pretty good job, but it was never out of their reach."
Mott admitted that there were tough times in the England camp after conceding the T20I series to India, but lauded Jos Buttler & Co. for ending the series with a win. "It has been a tough couple of days. This team isn't used to losing too often and I think India have played some great cricket."
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"I'm really proud of the resilience to come back out, put our marker back out there with the bat -- I thought it was a good decision to take it on and bat first -- and everyone went out with really good intent and was quite brave. That's some of the things we took out of the last couple of games and it's nice to get a win."
