Last Updated on 3 years by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: Is Ben Stokes a certainty for England’s 2022 T20 World Cup XI? | Will Ben Stokes feature in England’s XI in the World Cup?

Is it possible that this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia could be the last time we see Ben Stokes play T20 cricket for England? Or will Stokes even make it to England’s best XI for the latest instalment of white ball mayhem?

There has long been a mantra in English cricket that the team is harder to get out of, than into. That may have been the case for a while now, but white-ball cricket in England is certainly changing. The landscape has already drastically altered since the last T20 World Cup in 2021.

England is just behind the betting favourites, priced at odds of 7/2, to win the 2022 T20 World Cup. They are one of the teams with a genuine chance of winning the World Cup, along with 10/3 joint-favourites, India and Australia. Morgan’s team will have many punters bet on them, and they will be the beneficiary of plenty of cricket tips and betting predictions in the lead-up to the competition. They won’t want to blow up this opportunity.

With that in mind, can we say that English white-ball cricket is in the health it wants to be, so close to a World Cup? We’ve already had a change of coach, and now captain Eoin Morgan is under further pressure as his lean run of form continues.

Eoin Morgan’s tricky run goes on – he departs for a second straight duck!

He joins Jason Roy (73) and Phil Salt (77) back in the shed.

England 177-3 – need 59 from 96

??? Updates on the @BBCSport website and app ⬇️#BBCCricket #NEDvENG

— Test Match Special (@bbctms) June 19, 2022

Along with that, the question needs to be asked of all-rounder Stokes; will he be playing in Australia later this year? Stokes has already demonstrated a willingness to miss white-ball cricket to further his Test-playing ambitions. His decision to skip the 2022 IPL couldn’t be a better example of this.

Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for the IPL mega auction. https://t.co/0a8LvKSRoN

— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) January 17, 2022

Is there room for Ben Stokes in England’s T20 World Cup team?

The new England Test captain may take the decision himself not to play in the T20 World Cup this year. He missed last year’s competition for personal reasons, and he may feel that is the best thing to do for his wellbeing again this time around.

To add more fuel to the fire of this story, and many may think this is a mad question to ask, does Stokes fit into the England T20 team anymore? If Morgan stands aside, there will be another space freed up. But if Morgan doesn’t, and England decides to stick with their skipper, is there room for Stokes?

England now has T20 white ball players who are practically undroppable. Taking the pace of the ball in the shorter format is key, and in Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali, England has two guys in the middle order that simply can’t be overlooked. Even for a player of Stokes’ ability.

Throw Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, and Jos Buttler into the mix, and you have five of your top six already. England will almost certainly want four seam bowlers and Adil Rashid in the team, so there’s already an issue with numbers, with getting both Stokes and Morgan into the starting 11.

It seems almost unthinkable that England could go into the second World Cup in two years with a new coach, and possibly no Morgan, and no Stokes. But there is a possibility that may happen.

One thing for certain is there are a lot of big questions that need to be answered going into this year’s tournament. And when those questions are answered, don’t be surprised if this England team looks very different.