England may rest star players against Pakistan, says Trevor Bayliss

England face the Pakistanis in five 50-over games in the immediate weeks before the World Cup and opportunities look set to be given to fringe players to stake a claim

Trevor Bayliss says England may rest some of their key players for the ODI series against Pakistan in May as the selectors fine tune their World Cup squad.

England face the Pakistanis in five 50-over games in the immediate weeks before the tournament and opportunities look set to be given to fringe players to stake a claim.

Chris Jordan, Sam Billings and David Willey all impressed during the T20I series in the Caribbean last week, while Jofra Archer will come under consideration when he becomes eligible for selection at the end of this month.

Plenty for Bayliss, national selector Ed Smith and England selector James Taylor to think about, then.

"I think we're getting fairly close to the final 15," Bayliss told Sky Sports. "It's going to make our job a little bit hard with some of the performances in this T20 series.

^{Chris Jordan is one of the players who could force himself into the World Cup squad}

"Obviously, the World Cup is a 50-over competition but we're going to have to have a good hard, long chat about that World Cup squad. We've got a one-dayer against Ireland and then five against Pakistan before we have to finalise that squad so there are some important games coming up.

"April 23 we've got to a 15 but we can change it right up until the May 22 so that Pakistan series will play a part, I think, in our final decision."

Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jason Roy were all given breaks during the T20 campaign against West Indies and may be rotated in and out of the side against Pakistan - and in the one-off game against Ireland in Malahide - ahead of a hectic summer that also includes an Ashes series.

"It's going to be a long summer, there are going to be a lot of games before the World Cup, a lot of games during the World Cup and then the Ashes," Bayliss said.

"So it's quite possible that some of the guys that we know are definitely going to be in the team, we give them a rest during that Pakistan series as well."

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