Eoin Morgan builds around Jos Buttler as England aim to see off Australia

Battle of the bats: Buttler, in the nets on Thursday, is central to England's hopes
Getty Images
Will Macpherson4 September 2020

Eoin Morgan claims Australia are favourites for what promises to be a high-quality, high-scoring T20 series, starting on Friday night.

And on the basis that the tourists top the world rankings in this format — England are second — and have brought with them a full-strength squad, whereas the hosts are missing Ben Stokes, in New Zealand, and the injured Jason Roy, Morgan has a strong case. Australia have a better sense of what their best XI is, too.

The first of six white-ball games against their biggest rivals is the beginning of the end of the strangest summer in memory for England’s men. That they have the benefit of going into this series having been back in action for two months across three formats, whereas this is the Aussies’ first cricket for 175 days, is a considerable advantage.

Morgan’s T20 claim is a reminder that this will be an important staging post on the road to next year’s World Cup — which will now be held in India, not Australia — as they search for a unique double. England are desperate to become the first men’s team to hold both World Cups simultaneously.

In the four years between the World Cup humiliation of 2015 and triumph of 2019, England forensically pulled together a white-ball winning machine. Success was lavish in ODI cricket, where England’s plan was hyper-aggressive. With the formats increasingly distinct, a tweak to the blueprint is required for T20s.

The series draw with Pakistan, which concluded on Tuesday, was a promising one for England, and revealed exactly where they sit in the format. They have batting depth worthy of global envy, but the bowling remains a work in progress. The return of Jos Buttler exacerbates the former, while Jofra Archer and Mark Wood should help the latter.

This series has all the signs of being dominated by the bat, even though the same pitch is set to be used for all three games. The Ageas Bowl tends to be a lovely place to bat, as Australia captain Aaron Finch well knows. Six years ago, he smashed 156 — then the highest T20i score, a record he has since broken — in an Aussie total of 248. England fell 39 runs short in that chase, but Joe Root scored 90 not out in 49 balls. Their strength is exhibited by his absence now (he is scoring runs for Yorkshire in the Blast), while there are a host of classy young batsmen having to wait their turn, too.

There will only be space in the England side for two of Tom Banton, Dawid Malan and Sam Billings, all of whom have had their moments this summer. Whoever gets a chance cannot waste it.

England have an embarrassment of batting riches, but are still working out how best to line them up. Morgan seems set on Buttler facing as many balls as possible and working the rest out around that. Buttler and Jonny Bairstow’s battle with Finch and David Warner, another formidable opening pair, will set the tone for the series.

England’s strategy is to simply out-hit their opponents; up against Finch and Warner, and Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc stood at the top of their mark, that is as big a challenge as Morgan made out.

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