WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN
England switch focus to Twenty20 cricket as they seek white-ball double
IT IS a sign of the times and the ever changing priorities in international cricket that the T20 series which begins in East London today is what might be described as the business end of England’s tour to South Africa.
For all that Test cricket is the pinnacle and one-day international cricket in the next bracket down, T20 is an increasingly integral part of the modern calendar and while many traditionalists will always give it short shrift, it is, as they say, where the money is and the direction in which the sport is travelling.
Consequently, and with the T20 World Cup in Australia just eight months away, England’s focus is very much on this threematch series.
After today, it continues in Durban on Friday and concludes in Centurion on Sunday, after which there are just six more T20 internationals for Eoin Morgan and his players to finalise plans and preparations during the English summer.
Two of those games are at Emerald Headingley, which stages the last of a three-match series against Australia in July and the first of another three-match series against Pakistan from late August, the only international cricket that Leeds will see this year after last summer’s Ashes/ World Cup bonanza.
As with the 50-over team that won the World Cup, England have an embarrassment of T20 riches from which to choose, boosted by the return for this series of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood after they were purposely rested in readiness.
Jofra Archer would have been back too but for his troublesome elbow, and England’s top-order batting looks especially strong, with even the likes of Test captain Joe Root admitting that he is losing the battle to force his way into the World Cup XI.
There is less strength/experience in bowling, perhaps, but still a host of exciting young talent including, in the 15-man squad for this series, Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood.
Yorkshire’s new signing Dawid Malan will hope for an opportunity to restate his case after a fine T20 series in New Zealand before Christmas, while his new county team-mates Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid remain integral parts of the white-ball set-up.
Although most bilateral T20 international series struggle to get the juices flowing (the format is perhaps best suited to the county/franchise model), England will be keen to keep their foot on the throat after tying the one-day series with South Africa in Johannesburg last Sunday.
Victory by two wickets with Rashid to the fore ensured that the series ended all-square at 1-1 and meant that England avoided their first ODI series defeat for three years, a remarkable run that is testament to Eoin Morgan and his team of all the talents.
Morgan has stressed the importance of striving to hold both white-ball World Cups simultaneously, a target by no means beyond a group who will be among the favourites Down Under.
There is plenty of time, too, for performances at domestic level in the T20 Blast and also in The Hundred (spits violently in disgust) for players to prove their worth and force their way in; the T20 side is by no means as set in stone as that which won the 50over World Cup.
Tom Banton, the dynamic Somerset batsman, is another who could force his way into the World Cup mix, and then there are young bowlers like Pat Brown, who is currently managing a back problem.
Do not discount, either, David Willey, Yorkshire’s new T20 captain, and a man with a point to prove when the Blast kicks off having been left out of England’s 50-over World Cup squad last year.