Charlie Dean captains England again, and five familiar names sit out the Ireland ODIs
Nat Sciver-Brunt is still managing the calf problem that has run through her year, and England have picked a 15-player squad with two uncapped players for next month’s series.
Aug 18, 2026
England have handed the captaincy back to Charlie Dean for next month’s three one-day internationals against Ireland, with Nat Sciver-Brunt left out while she continues to manage the left calf that has interrupted her whole year.
The 15-player squad announced on Monday is missing five of the names an England ODI side would normally pick first. Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt-Hodge are both looking after their fitness. Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Bell and Amy Jones were simply not selected, and in Jones’s case the selectors said the point was to widen and deepen the pool of players available in the 50-over format.
Two uncapped players, and a lot of room
Seam bowler Grace Potts and wicketkeeper-batter Kira Chathli are the two uncapped members of the squad, both having been around England groups through the summer without playing. The rest reads like a list of players who have had a taste and want more: Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, Sophia Dunkley, Lauren Filer, Dani Gibson, Jodi Grewcock, Freya Kemp, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Charis Pavely, Mady Villiers and Issy Wong.
Charlotte Edwards, who took the head coach job after the Ashes defeat that cost Jon Lewis his, described the series as a chance for players to show their 50-over skills and bank experience for the future. That is a fair summary of a series against Ireland in September with no tournament attached to it.
Dean has done this before
This is not a promotion so much as a return. Dean led England in the ODIs against New Zealand in May when Sciver-Brunt’s calf first flared up, captained the side in T20Is against India, and deputised again during the T20 World Cup when the injury kept the regular captain out of matches. She is 25 and has now been the answer to England’s captaincy question often enough that it barely counts as news.
What is worth watching is how she uses a squad this thin on caps. Most of England’s recent selection has been forced by fitness rather than chosen, and this one reads more like an audition than a reshuffle.
Dates and grounds
The series is played entirely at county grounds. Ireland visit Grace Road in Leicester on 1 September and the County Ground in Derby on 3 September, both starting at 1pm local time, before the third match at New Road in Worcester on 6 September, which begins at 10:30am.
For Sciver-Brunt, the calendar is the point. The calf problem started in late April with a minor tear picked up in a domestic match, and it has cost her a New Zealand series, matches at a home World Cup and now this. England have clearly decided that a September series against Ireland is not where they need her.