Today new writer Leo McGuinn previews England’s T20 series in South Africa. The three-match series begins on Friday …
It feels like a long time since an international T20 series has meant this much to England. In a T20 driven era, it has been franchise cricket that has come to the fore over the last few years, with the international form of the game taking a backseat.
At one point we were over saturated with T20 World Cups, there seemed to be one every few months. Ever since the first edition in 2007, the longest wait was only ever two years. There were six tournaments in nine years. Now it’s been nearly five years since Kolkata and we all remembered Carlos Brathwaite’s name.
For England, all roads lead to India, where the 2021 T20 World Cup will be held. There was meant to be a competition happening now of course, in Australia, but that was scrapped, sorry delayed, until 2022 due to the pandemic. What’s new?
England’s recent record in the format is impressive. They have won six and draw one of their last seven series and will be favourites to add another series victory in South Africa.
The problem with T20’s often being tacked onto the end of long test and one day series is teams often disregard them and see them as secondary. The big guns are often rested, and fringe players get an opportunity. Ben Stokes has only played three T20s for England in the last two years.
This isn’t the case for this tour and for the first time in what feels like forever, England have a full-strength squad to choose from. Joe Root couldn’t find his way into the squad despite an excellent international record. That suggests England’s batting stocks aren’t in bad shape.
How will England line-up?
Looking at the England’s most likely line-up the strengths are immediately obvious. The batting is as good as it gets and just keeps on going. A top three of Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and, probably their greatest ever white ball bat, Jos Buttler is explosive at worst and downright ridiculous at best.
The debate continues over Buttler’s best position, but England seem set to continue with him as an opener. They clearly want to give their best player as many balls as possible and it’s hard to argue with them.
Dawid Malan will most likely slot in at four and the fact there is any debate about it shows just how good the strength in depth is at the current moment. The man averages over 50 and is currently the number one rated T20 bat in the world. Just about scrapes into the side.
The skipper comes in at five, Eoin Morgan is still one of the best in the business and his promotion to captain a floundering KKR side in the IPL showed just how much he is valued worldwide as a captain,. He brings calmness to the line-up in the middle order.
Ben Stokes will probably bat six and people will bring up his modest T20 international stats, again. And Ben Stokes will prove people wrong, again. Stokes is match winner, end of, and showed in the IPL he can bat up at the top of the order, and score tons. Stokes as a sixth option with the ball also alleviates pressure on Morgan and the other bowlers.
Sam Curran’s stellar IPL looks to have edged him ahead of Moeen Ali in the pecking order. Curran was a shining light in a disastrous CSK season and took wickets aplenty combined with valuable runs. We’ll talk more about Mo later on. Poor Mo.
Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer pick themselves. A world class leggie and the IPL MVP. Archer has only played four T20s for his country but is one of the very best with ball in hand and will add some valuable late order hitting.
The last two spots are between Tom Curran, Chris Jordan and Mark Wood. It seems like Curran and Jordan will get the nod, with more T20 pedigree than the Durham man.
Looking back over that line-up England cover nearly all bases. Firepower at the top of the order. Genuine all-rounders. An incredibly deep batting line-up. A left armer in Curran with Topley on the bench. Genuine pace in Archer and Wood if he plays. Quality spin through Rashid and the guile of Chris Jordan’s yorkers and Tom Curran’s cutters.
England’s Weaknesses
There is one glaring weakness, and it’s the lack of a second spinner. Preferably a right arm finger spinner, someone to spin it the other way to Rashid. Moeen used to be the perfect solution to this particular conundrum, but his sharp decline in form has seen him drop out of the first team picture.
Despite next year’s tournament being played on the sub-continent England seem ok going in without a second spinner. The lack of options are quite alarming however. The cupboard is not bare but positively empty. If Moeen was injured and England desperately needed a right armer to play a T20 game, who would they turn to?
The truth is, at the moment, there aren’t any options. The man who does it in tests for England is Dom Bess, he’s only played in eight T20s, ever. The solution may be a man who made his name as a big hitting young batsman, Will Jacks. He took 13 wickets in the Blast in 2020, more than any other T20 tweaker and his ability to clear the ropes is as good as anyone his age. He has signed with the Hobart Hurricanes in this year’s Big Bash and a decent tournament could see him sneak onto the plane as England’s bolter.
The Opposition
South African cricket has been in crisis ever since the suspension of chief executive Thabang Moroe, in December last year. Last month, the country’s Sports Minister ordered the entire board to step down. If they didn’t the tour would be in jeopardy. All board members eventually followed orders, hopefully wiping the slate clean for a new regime.
It has not been plain sailing on the pitch over the last few years either and results have certainly not gone The Proteas way. If the IPL showed anything, however, it’s that there certainly isn’t a lack of talent in the ‘Rainbow Nation’.
The pace attack looks strong. Rabada was the top wicket taker in the IPL and is a genuine world class operator in the format. Anrich Nortje has been the find of the last few years for South Africa. Impressed on test debut last year against England and was excellent in the IPL, consistently bowling faster than anyone else. Lungi Ngidi didn’t have the greatest of IPL’s but is another good quick bowler available for the hosts.
In terms of batting, the skipper, Quinton de Kock is one of the world’s best and the lack of captaincy may well free the shackles for Faf du Plessis. Apart from them South Africa’s batting line-up has a lot of talent but has constantly flattered to deceive. Players such as Temba Bavuma and David Miller consistently inconsistent for as long as they have been around.
South Africa traditionally had one of the most settled line-ups in the world when the likes of Amla, de Villiers and Dale Steyn were still playing international cricket but a changing of the guard has made them very unpredictable and the fact they’ve named a 24 man squad due to coronavirus restrictions has made it even harder to know how they’ll shape up on Friday.
Prediction
The shorter the format, the harder it is to predict. England are clear favourites but, on their day, South Africa can beat any side in the world.
England are taking this tour seriously, as evidenced by the fact they have picked a full strength T20 squad for the first time since the 2016 World Cup.
Both sides will learn a lot about their sides ahead of next year’s World Cup. England are almost set with their side going forward and the side they field on Friday will be pretty similar to the one that plays their first group game in the World Cup, barring disastrous injuries.
South Africa aren’t quite as sure of their best XI and this series will give them a great idea of where they are at as a T20 side.
I’m going for a 2-1 England win. England are a much better side, and that fact should shine through over the three match series. A match can be changed by one player in this format and I believe a de Kock or Rabada masterclass will prevent the host being whitewashed.
However it ends, we can all agree, it’s great to have some international cricket back on our screens. Bring it on.
Leo McGuinn
I don’t understand the obsession with Buttler opening. It didn’t really work in the IPL (or so I understand) and he actually scored more runs when he moved down the order to his best position.
I think England risk being intransigent if they pursue this policy. Buttler is a great finisher, that’s what he’s always excelled at, so why move him?
There’s often a belief that the best player should open so they get maximum balls at the crease. They even tried opening with Pietersen in ODIs. It just doesn’t always work. In fact, I think it’s a fallacy. Players should bat where they’re most effective.
I don’t see why England can’t simply open with Roy and Bairstow. They’ve always been a great partnership so why fix what isn’t broken?
On the other hand, Buttler averages 51 as an opener (albeit of course from a much smaller–although not miniscule–sample size) and under 24 batting 4 or lower.
I think in modern one-day cricket the maximum balls theory is a pretty good one, even in 50-over cricket–although of course if a particular batsman doesn’t work there then pf course teams shouldn’t be intransigent about it. Since the nature of modern one-dayers (and especially T20) is to go hell for leather from the start and you get a Powerplay to do so, then I think the idea of finishers vs openers is possibly less important than it used to be. It seems like a real waste of your best batsmen in T20s to be hiding them down at 5 or 6.
And, as someone pointed out on Cricinfo today, in recent times England’s best finisher is not Buttler but Morgan. I guess England’s issue is that they have four or five best batsmen…:-)
It’s about combinations too. I like Roy / Bairstow and I think it’s hard to leave either out. But where would they bat if you don’t open with them?
I prefer Buttler down the order because it’s what he’s used to. It’s where he bats in ODIs and he probably has more experience of handling the pressure at the death than anyone else. Alongside Stokes I think I’d like Buttler at the crease more than anyone else in the last 5 overs of a World Cup final – whether we need 6 per over or 16.
I agree that it’s tough though. We have so many good players as you say. One could make a very strong case for Malan too.
I really don’t care about T20s.
I’ll be watching Australia vs India ODI on Friday. On BT Sport with the Test series to follow. I don’t mind T20 but rarely watch it these days. Just too many samey games and never ending series for me.
A propos of the up and coming South African tour I was watching a re-run of our 2010 ICC T20 trophy win in the Caribbean. Our demolition of a South African X1 featuring, amongst others, Morkel, Steyn, Kallis, Boucher, Wood and Dumini was exceptional, with Pieterson at the top of his form flaying their attack to all parts with some outrageous shots even by today’s standards and then Ryan Sidebotham showing us what a lefty can do with a bit of skill and guile, imposing himself in a way well beyond a certain Curran I could mention. He didn’t have much back up either, only Swann of any proven class. The rest were a bunch of bits and pieces men like, Yardy, Wright, Collingwood and Bresnan backed up by a very young Stuart Broad. Strange to see Morgan playing not as captain, but it Just shows what a bit of self belief can do when you have a matchwinner in your ranks. So don’t write South Africa off yet.
2020.. samey games… any tests on ???
Won’t be watching or caring
Yes coming up in a week or so Australia vs India on BT Sport if you have it.
Just a comment, but I’ve never really got how fans of T20 analyse it to the 3rd degree. Tactics, team selection, pitches etc. for basically a game that really resolves around how many sixes you biff out the ground in 75 minutes.
You can bend time Doug!…but I’m happy that the series in Australia is only a week or so away because then so is my birthday…:-)
If you can’t wait for that one you could always watch WI v NZ, starting…next week.
Re your last sentence Doug–couldn’t you argue that unrestrained aggression makes all those things MORE important than in other situations?
Well perhaps but the problem with just a diet of sixes or aggression if you like, is that it just becomes basically a bore, unlike a six in a test match which you savour. T20 has many followers, but to me it’s fast food takeaway against the Gourmet meal.