England pack the batting to unleash Roy and Hales
Both Root and Morgan will drop in deep line-up Warner not Smith seen as key Australian wicket
England’s freewheeling style of one-day cricket will be unleashed on World Cup winners Australia in the early hours of tomorrow morning when the one-day series starts at the MCG as the team looks to restore lost pride.
England will pack their batting by squeezing in both Jason Roy and Alex Hales. Roy will open with Jonny Bairstow and Hales will go in at three, pushing Joe Root down to four and captain Eoin Morgan to five. Jos Buttler will be nominally positioned at six, but in a floating role, with the option of batting him higher if the innings needs a lift.
The rejig has been caused by the absence of Ben Stokes and the return of Hales, who was suspended at the end of last summer after both were caught up in a street fight in Bristol.
Roy, who lost his place to Bairstow during the Champions Trophy, filled in for Hales and did well enough to keep his opening slot. It had been thought that Hales might have to wait to earn his place back in the side, but England want to pick their best six batsmen and then worry about how they fit them in the order. As things stand, Root will move from three, where he has batted since the World Cup.
“The way we play, we bat quite deep. We play our best six batsmen and all-rounder if we can and it will be structured like that,” said Morgan.
The final selection call will be over whether to pick two spinners. If that happens then Moeen Ali keeps his place. If not, he will probably lose out to Tom Curran, the extra seamer, with Adil Rashid now considered the lead spinner.
The shorter format is England’s priority these days and results have reflected that. They have a better record than any other team since the last World Cup, winning 34 of 53 matches. Their batsmen have been turbo-charged by a coach, Trevor Bayliss, who is at ease in this format, where his hands-off method is crucial if players are to bat with freedom and not worry about the consequences.
“He has been brilliant for us. As a coach, the one attribute he has is the ability to take the pressure away from any player at a time when you need it and that has helped me massively,” said Morgan.
The result is that England are the only team since the World Cup with a strike rate above a run a ball (6.3 per over), have scored the most totals in excess of 300 (24), and two of more than 400, while their batsmen have hit more fours and sixes than any other team.
They lack the left-arm shock value of Mitchell Starc’s pace, but Rashid is one-day cricket’s leading wicket-taker since the 2015 World Cup and England have such depth in their batting that they believe they can make up for any bowling shortcomings.
David Warner is Australia’s most dangerous one-day player and, in another departure from the Ashes, England are less worried about the threat of Steve Smith.
“I don’t think he [Smith] is the key wicket, no. He is an unbelievable player and his run of form has been freakish. But there are loads of other impact players in their side and we will be trying to get as many of them out as we can,” said Morgan.
“We are going with the mantra that we always need to be on top of our game and testing the opposition the whole time. We have done that a bit with the bat, we will try to continue taking wickets with the ball. This time next year we need to be in a good enough nouugh space to be contenders for the he Worldw World Cup.
“To be in that space sppace you need to be setting or bucking uccking trends or being able to adapt. dappt. We are very open-minded with th the way we are going. Also the best estt way to address it is to be on the front foot.”
Losing Stokes wasw was a huge blow for the Test side. e. Withoutw Without him, at times it looked asa as though they lacked a pulse. Buut But the one-day team have enough gh ball-hitting talent to recover from romm his loss. Also, Morgan has the bennefit benefit of clarity.
The early Ashes shees Tests were clouded by unccertainty uncertainty over whether Stokes woould would turn up at some point. By thee the time that was settled, the series es wasw was gone. Morgan, by contrast, t, knowsk knows Stokes is unavailable for the he wholew whole series. “It creates a lot more re calmc calm around the periphery,” he said. id.
Rashid revels underu under Morgan’s leadership and Moeeen, Moeen, if he plays, can be protected cted by fielding restrictions in white-ball hitte-ball cricket. If he is not mentally y exhaustede exhausted by the Ashes, this series es could be the boost he needs.
Rashid can take ke wicketsw wickets in the middle overs with h hish his variations, but one constant t remains, the lack of an X-factor or bowler.b bowler.
Mark Wood beelieves believes he can do the job, but ut hish his skiddy pace might come e ono on to the bat nicely on decent ennt batting tracks. Liam Pluunkett’s Plunkett’s bounce is a handful ndfful yet England lack the he shock value of Starc, whho who can take wickets with h thhe the new and old ball.
Australia are reb rebuilding building in one-day cricket et but the series promises to o be a ding-dong affair, r, anda and at least closer than n th the he oneway traffic of the Ashesshes Ashes series.