Ben Duckett swings a pull into the leg side•Getty Images
“We’ve obviously picked that 15 for the World Cup and, until we get injury or illness, they’ll serve us well,” Mott said. “The good thing about an India series, as opposed to Australia, is the fact that it’s not a big flight away. We can call up people at pretty short notice and travel quite lean as well. Obviously Jofra will be there, but a lot of that is around him getting the servicing that he needs to get back to full fitness.
“Obviously, there’s some players that know they’re on the periphery of the team and missed out. But when you get an injury in a World Cup, it might seem obvious from the outside [who the replacement should be] but there’s other things that go on inside the camp that other people aren’t privy to, and what we might need to cover. So, as much as we can, we’ll keep that that option open.”
Reflecting last week’s selection meeting, at which the decision to dispense with Roy was made, Mott added: “It was a really robust conversation with some really good minds in the room and it was definitely the hardest selection I’ve sat in. I think when you leave a player out of the calibre of Jason Roy, who’s been such an amazing servant for England over a very long period of time, you know that you’ve got some talent in the room.”
Roy was given the option of playing in these final two ODIs against Ireland, but in his absence England’s chosen openers put on a show. Salt, a T20 World Cup winner in Australia last year, produced a scintillating innings of 61 from 28 balls, while Will Jacks was named Player of the Series after following up his matchwinning 94 at Trent Bridge with a further fluent knock of 39 from 21. Further down the order, Crawley, England’s stand-in captain, produced a 39-ball fifty, while Duckett – a stand-out performer on Asian pitches – was in full flow on 107 not out from 78 balls when the rain came.
“You can’t really tell until you get in the change-room with some players to see how they tick, see how their mind works and how they approach the game,” Mott said of the new faces in this ODI set-up. “You learn a lot just being around them in hotels as well, seeing how they go about their business, and I’m really excited about this group.
“Everyone has seen it, there’s a real freshness to the way that they’ve come about their cricket,” he added. “I think we’ve learned some good things along the way as well. And it’s a shame that we haven’t played as much cricket as we would have liked, but we’ve seen enough to know that there’s an exciting few years ahead.”
More immediately, the excitement will centre around the World Cup build-up, with the squad due to play two warm-ups against India and Bangladesh in Guhawati this week, ahead of the tournament opener against New Zealand on October 5.
“It’s incredibly exciting times,” Mott said. “It’s been on the radar for us for a long time now and I think the guys should be nice and fresh. I think we’ve got just about the right amount of cricket behind us. The couple of practice matches will serve as well. I think we’re ready to put our best foot forward.”
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket