England T20 Squad

South Africa v England

England face South Africa in 3 T20 games starting on Friday and the squad they have selected makes for interesting reading.

Twenty20 squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) (captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Surrey), Mark Wood (Durham).

There is still no place for Joe Root in this format and I find the selection of Topley a little bemusing but I am hoping for his sake that he has overcome his injury problems and can stake a real claim for selection.

The batting order England go with will be fascinating. Malan is the world’s number 1 batsmen in this format so he will surely slot in at number 3 where he has been so successful.

England have opened with Buttler recently but with Roy and Bairstow both back in this squad surely it would be sensible to move Buttler back in to the middle order and open with those two. If they continue with Buttler then does Bairstow move down the order as he has batted in the middle order early in his career? Surely you leave him to open with how successful he has been in the IPL over the last few years. So could Roy move in to the middle order? He bats in the middle in red ball cricket but has always opened in white ball.

Throw in to the mix Ben Stokes who has successfully opened in the IPL in place of Buttler. All will want to open given you only have 20 overs to get as many runs as possible but what is best for the team?

I’ve made my mind up and I’m going 1)Roy, 2)Bairstow, 3)Malan, 4)Stokes, 5)Buttler, and I am moving the skipper Morgan down to number 6.

I think Morgan can do the job as the finisher if needed. This order is subject to fluidity though and on the assumption that the top order has come off. If there are two early wickets then I would probably have Morgan come in at 4.

Whatever the order, the batting line-up looks strong and full of runs.

Bowling wise England seem to have all bases covered as well. The two spinners as usual. Two out and out quicks in Wood and Archer. Two bowlers every good at the death in Jordan and Tom Curran and two left armers in Topley and Sam Curran. Not to mention Stokes as well as the 6^th bowler.

The big question is will Moeen Ali bat at 7 and give a second spin option or will England opt for just one spinner and five seamers that worked so well in the 50 over world cup.

Moeen bowled very little in this format in the summer. Archer, Wood, Tom Curran and Jordan were all impressive so it would be harsh to leave one of them out. But perhaps leaving out Curran or Jordan gives a better balance to the team with four seamers and two spinners. It also in theory strengthens the batting with Moeen coming in at 7.

I say in theory as if he comes off he can get a quick fire 30 from not many balls. However those knocks seem rare these days and he often seems to throw his wicket away. Both Curran’s, Jordan and Rashid are all capable with the bat so in most cases it won’t weaken it that match.

Sometimes it is more of a psychological thing. Moeen in at 7 and on paper it looks like a long batting line-up.

Tom Curran or Jordan in at 7 and it suddenly looks like a long tail.

Having said that if the top 6 do the job they are capable of then we shouldn’t need the tail anyway but we know things aren’t that simple when it comes to cricket and indeed England.