Ed Smith felt moved to defend the commitment of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Sam Curran to the England cause after allowing them to miss the one-day international leg of the upcoming South Africa tour in order to rest. All three have recently been playing the Indian Premier League and, while they will still fly to Cape Town on 16 November as part of a 23-man touring party, they have permission to depart early once the initial three-match Twenty20 series is done. The decision by Smith further confirms England’s deference to the IPL in recent times and though it will be unpalatable for some, the national selector is not in an easy position trying to juggle the workloads of key cricketers who play all three international formats yet cannot say “no” to the tournament’s financial lure. Smith, who has long championed the cricketing side of the IPL and credited its role in helping to develop last year’s World Cup-winning team, said: “I don’t think it’s a question of the players being too tired. It’s more nuanced than that. “If you look at the commitment shown to England by those three – Curran, Archer and Stokes – and their big performances in an England shirt, I don’t think anyone could question their commitment to the cause. It’s simply the case that the ECB had a stance for a number of years of permitting players to play in IPL.” The situation is complicated by the demands of bubble life during the pandemic, with Smith echoing the recent words of the limited-overs captain, Eoin Morgan, by stating that mental health is a priority and schedules must be tailored on a “case by case” basis. “It’s going to be a really important aspect of selection that we have really good information and very trusting relationships,” Smith said. To that end England appear to have listened to Archer’s recent revelation that he was “counting down the days” until he was “free”, while Jos Buttler, another all-format player and IPL regular, has conversely been made available for both series. In the case of Stokes, who missed the back end of the summer for family reasons, Smith insisted the decision to miss the ODIs was made in light of a gruelling 2021. It starts with Test tours to Sri Lanka and India and, after another IPL and a full home season, runs through to a Twenty20 World Cup in India and an Ashes tour. Elsewhere there were few surprises bar Reece Topley’s inclusion for both formats – a back injury to fellow left-armer David Willey opened up a spot – and the demotion of Tom Banton to one of three reserve spots along with Tom Helm, the uncapped Middlesex seamer, and Nottinghamshire’s Jake Ball. This trio, preferred to the likes of Matt Parkinson, Saqib Mahmood and Joe Denly, will have a chance to impress the management during the in-house warm-up games on tour, as well Joe Root, who is once again overlooked for the T20 leg. Smith predicted this will be the case for the first half of 2021 as part of the Test captain’s workload management but stressed “one of England’s greatest ever cricketers” remains in the selection mix for next year’s main event. While Root is desperate to play all three formats Adil Rashid looks set to remain a white-ball specialist after recent conversations between the leg-spinner and Smith regarding the Test tours after Christmas. Smith said: “Adil is making a successful comeback from a serious shoulder injury which kept him out of cricket for the second half of 2019. There is a real question mark about whether Adil feels it’s the right thing to do to push that by playing in four- and five-day cricket. That doesn’t seem likely in the immediate term.” By contrast Mark Wood, speaking earlier at the launch of a new £1m grassroots fund by the ECB and sponsors LV, restated his Test ambitions despite obvious disappointment at missing out on a red-ball contract. Wood said: “I’ll have to prove again I can do the business and hopefully the rewards come. If they don’t, I’ll reassess and see where my cricket lies. Growing up I always wanted to play for England across all formats and I’m still trying to chase that dream.”