STOKES BACK BUT ROOT WILL NOT BE AXED
Farbrace stands by Joe for T20s
BEN STOKES hopes to make his England return in the third Twenty20 international against India at Bristol but stand-in coach Paul Farbrace insists the man to step aside will not be Joe Root.
Stokes, who missed the second Test against Pakistan and the six white-ball wins over Australia because of a hamstring injury, will play as a batsman for Durham against Yorkshire in the T20 Blast on Thursday, three days before the Bristol game.
Assuming he emerges unscathed, the selectors must then decide how best to accommodate him in a 20- over team which pummelled the Australians for 221 for five on Wednesday night in Birmingham — their highest score against them. Not for the first time, questions were raised about the suitability of Root in a form of cricket which now expects six- hitting as a matter of course.
While the other members of England’s top six scored at a combined strike-rate of 190, his 35 off 24 balls equated to a relatively stately 145. That remains a decent rate but there were moments when it felt as if Root was falling behind his more muscular colleagues.
Throughout his T20 international career, he has hit a six once every 37 balls — way behind the likes of Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan (once every 16), Jason Roy (19), Alex Hales (23), Jonny Bairstow (25) and Moeen Ali (25). But Farbrace, who will supervise the three T20 matches against India while head coach Trevor Bayliss takes a breather and watches the England Lions, said Root’s place was not under any threat.
‘Joe played nicely for the team,’ he said after the Edgbaston game. ‘ You do need different players. You don’t want everybody playing the same way. Sometimes when you are chasing, you need someone who is able to rotate the strike and knock it around and be smart in the middle.
‘He could go anywhere from three to six. It is nice having that cool, calm head who could go anywhere in the order.’
Asked if he believes Root was ‘locked into’ both white-ball teams, Farbrace said: ‘ In my mind, 100 per cent. I can’t believe anybody else in our set-up would argue against that. He is world class in all forms of the game.’
Stokes’s return for the third match against India — the series starts on Tuesday in Manchester — would probably mean no place for Hales, who looked as destructive as anyone while hitting 49 from 24 balls at Edgbaston.
Batting at No 4 after England gave Jos Buttler a chance at the top of the order, Hales was not opening for the first time in his 53 Twenty20 internationals. And Buttler’s blistering 30-ball 61 shut the door on Hales resuming his partnership with Roy any time soon.
Farbrace insisted the selection puzzle demonstrates England’s enviable depth.
‘Halesy walked to the crease with a bit of a point to prove,’ he said. ‘It is a great position to be in and somehow we have to find a way to get people in.’