Will Jacks for England - (Source: X.com)
On Thursday, January 22, Sri Lanka and England squared off in the first ODI of the three-match series at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. For the curtain-raiser, the hosts won the toss and opted to bat first. Interestingly, England had named their playing XI a day before the start of play, but were forced to make a change during toss.
Interestingly, Will Jacks, who was part of the original playing XI that was made public on January 21, but was replaced by Rehan Ahmed for the ongoing match. Notably, for the unversed, Jacks fell ill before the start of play and England were forced to make one change.
England's revised playing XI for 1st ODI vs SL
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sam Curran, Rehan Ahmed, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
Will Jacks' absence a big loss for England
England are under the scanner after the recent shambolic performance in the Ashes and their cricket has hit rock bottom. The Sri Lanka series is crucial for the Three Lions to regain the lost confidence from the fans and the pundits. However, Will Jacks' absence is a big loss for England because they will miss his all-round abilities.
Talking about Jacks' recent performance, he performed with the ball against South Africa and picked up two wickets in a solitary game. Further, he scored 275 runs in nine innings in The Hundred 2025, averaging 30.56, and a strike-rate 154.49. Even with the ball, Jacks picked up a wicket with the ball in the Hundred.
Rehan Ahmed the right replacement for Will Jacks
With Jacks' exit, England were left with little spin options, which is wht Rehan Ahmed has been brought into the playing XI. Notably, Ahmed is the right-choice because the star all-rounder is in form. Ahmed recently featured in BBL, where he had an underwhelming tournament and scored just 96 runs and picked up three wickets.
However, if we look at the events prior to that, Ahmed stole the show in The Hundred, where he picked up 12 wickets in 10 innings and also slammed 189 runs in nine innings, averaging 23.63. Although, Ahmed is unlikely to get the longer rope and will return to the bench once Will Jacks recovers from his illness.
Nonetheless, both Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed are part of England's T20 World Cup 2026 squad and the management need both players to have game time and stay fit. Let's also shed light on England's squad for T20 World Cup 2026.
Harry Brook (C), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Josh Tongue, Luke Wood
Talking about the ongoing match, at the time of writing this article, Sri Lanka are going strong and have put 44/0 on the board after 9.1 overs.
