Stokes the only worry as Morgan stands by Roy
All-rounder faces fitness test for today’s opener Out-of-form batsaman will play ‘throughout’
England’s Champions Trophy campaign will start at the Oval this morning with Ben Stokes having a fitness test on his left knee before the opening game with Bangladesh.
The result will decide how much of a role Stokes can play, with captain Eoin Morgan confirming he will pick the all-rounder as a specialist batsman if he is deemed not fit enough to bowl.
Morgan also gave Jason Roy his full support, confirming he will open the batting throughout the tournament despite a run of low scores. The captain’s unequivocal backing for his players sums up how stable England have become in comparison to two years ago at the World Cup when they shuffled the batting line-up on the eve of the tournament.
England are built on stability. The top six today will be the same as the line-up that played against New Zealand at Edgbaston two summers ago and smashed 404 to signal the change in the team’s direction after the dismal World Cup campaign.
“I cannot see it changing,” Morgan said. “The decision remains the same throughout the tournament. Jason Roy is part of our strong opening partnership with Alex Hales. He’ll definitely play. Jason epitomises the way that we play; the aggression with which he plays, he always plays for the team. He’s a very important part of our side.”
So often England go into global tournaments with question-marks over places, so to have just one problem in Roy’s form is a luxury. The only loser is Jonny Bairstow, who has earned an honours degree in patience in recent months as he waits for a run in the side.
The consequences of making the change are just too much for England to contemplate seriously. Bairstow has opened in one-day cricket for Yorkshire, and scored 170 against Durham in a 50-over game this summer, but he has never done the job in international cricket. Another option would be to slot Bairstow into the middle order and move Moeen Ali up to open but that would involve several changes and upset a carefully constructed batting line up.
“He [Bairstow] will miss out unfortunately. It’s been the case like that for the last couple of years,” Morgan said. “He’s been very good when he’s come in, but each and every one of us within the batting department has had ups and downs over the years. And one of the strongest parts of reinforcing the way that we play and the freedom in which we play with is backing that up with selection.”
Stokes took a full part in fielding practice and batted in the nets yesterday but had the gentlest of bowling
sessions, sending down a couple of overs with the team’s press officer as wicketkeeper.
Winning two matches should take England through and the crucial match will be against New Zealand next week at Edgbaston. They do not want to lose that and be in a position of having to beat Australia in their final group game to qualify.
It was Bangladesh who knocked England out of the 2015 World Cup, when Morgan experienced his greatest low as captain. “Since then, we’ve been on a huge upward curve,” he said. “At no stage have we second-guessed ourselves or the direction we’re going in, and that’s very powerful as a group.”