ODI
Cook, Hales, Root, Stokes, Morgan, Buttler, Ansari, S Wood,
Broad, Finn, Topley
Hales has shown himself to be a good hitter and sooner or
later England are likely to decide they can’t win international tournaments
with Cook, Trott and Bell together in the top 3. Hales seems to be a natural
timer of a cricket ball and relatively relaxed about cricket in general, if
technically limited. I rate Kieswetter highly and think he will get another
chance at international cricket but the competition for the wicketkeepers spot
is fierce so he just misses out as opener here – he should only open in ODI and
T20 cricket as he is no middle order player. Steven Davies could return in the
future as an opener but he is out of form at present. Varun Chopra, if he makes
it into the test team would be an obvious option in ODI cricket also but like
Cook he is a correct and compact player who lacks big power. If Cook wasn’t
around he would be a solid option at the top of the order. Billings and
Stirling are outsiders as openers. Billings has shown himself to be a sweet
timer of the cricket ball with all the shots but isn’t currently playing first
class cricket and isn’t wicketkeeping at Kent. He will find it hard to overtake
other English keepers in the next five years. Stirling is an aggressive and as
powerful hitter as there is in English cricket. His style is agricultural
though and I have my doubts against international class bowling. It’s also
unclear whether he would like to play for England and he seems a little unfit
so this seems very unlikely- he is a talent though.
Root showed enough calmness and adaptability in India to
suggest he should thrive wherever he ends up with England. Batting him at 3
allows him to rebuild if necessary with his compact batting style and to start
against spin and accelerate if the situation dictates.
The batsmen at 4, 5 and 6 are an exciting bunch who all have
experienced international cricket so far although Morgan is the only one to
have nailed a place down. I’ve placed Stokes at 4 at this gives him the maximum
amount of time to build an innings. Stokes has the ability to destroy an attack
and is used to batting in the top 4 with Durham. It also allows Morgan at 5 and
Buttler at 6 to guide the runchase. Both are adept at accelerating straight
from the start of the innings and are good finishers. Buttler has shown in county
cricket that he is a special talent and he needs to play. To give England more
options I’m placing Buttler as keeper. Hopefully he gets the game time needed
to develop his wicketkeeping enough for England to trust him in that position
because otherwise England will have a surplus of top order batsmen who don’t
offer any bowling options. Jonny Bairstow misses out here although he is likely
to be around the squad. Unfortunately he hasn’t shown the skills in the shorter
formats to warrant selection so far and loses out to Buttler in the
wicketkeeping stakes on the basis that Buttler offers the more dynamic option
with the bat.
With Stokes, Zafar Ansari offers the fifth bowling option
whilst occupying the number 7 spot. It is clear I rate the relatively
unheralded Ansari from my Test discussion but it is in ODI and T20 cricket
where Ansari has excelled. He seems to have a coolness and clarity of thought
that combined with a wide range of strokes and a grounded personality should
allow him to progress through the game to international level. In truth I’m
taking quite a punt on Ansari and he may not have the talent to fulfil my
expectations but I’ve liked everything I’ve seen and read so far on Ansari. Batting
at 7 he could be another finisher whilst being the second spin option.
Other contenders for the middle order spots could be Taylor,
Thakor, Bairstow and Ballance. Taylor is a skilled cricketer but at 5’4’’ he
will never intimidate bowlers and lacks power to dominate an attack. He would
have to develop his allround game and rotation of the strike if he wants to
find a place in the England ODI team and it would have to be around bigger
hitters. Thakor if he reaches the test highs will be around the ODI team and he’s
shown adaptability so far in his career batting in various positions at
Leicestershire. Developing his bowling skills would no doubt give him an
advantage over other middle order options. Ballance is another exciting option
who is unlucky to miss out. With the technical ability to face the best attacks
and the strength and skill to really accelerate Ballance is definitely a good
long term option. As so often in life luck may well play apart to whom
eventually settles in the middle order but I’m quite excited about the options
going forward for England in this area.
As I alluded to in the test piece, spin bowling is a worry
and even moreso in ODI cricket where Panesar and Kerrigan are poor options
given their lacklustre fielding and batting. Plucking names out for this was
hard but I went with Sam Wood of Nottinghamshire. An offspinner with good
flight and decent turn he is attractive because of his combative batting and
good fielding also. Another option was Danny Briggs but I’m worried by the fact
he doesn’t turn the ball and his limited fielding and batting skills do him no
favours. Azeem Rafiq would be another option in a similar vein to Wood. George
Dockrell would be the other candidate as someone who already has a vast
experience of the game and is likely to have 2 world cups under his belt before
he is selected for England- experience like that is hard to overlook if he continues
to perform well. In summary the spinner could be anyone in 5 years time but I’m
not overly impressed with the options. I hope the ECB is allocating sufficient finances
into the development of the spinners of the future otherwise there could be
some big problems.
Broad and Finn if both still fit and firing are good ODI bowlers
and should be included. Other right arm fast bowling options could be Dernbach,
TRJ, Shahzad and Jamie Overton. Dernbach at present seems to be getting worse
not better but I can’t shed the belief that he could be a very good ODI bowler.
He bowls at a very lively pace, swings the ball and has good variation. At
present there is no pressure on the opposition as they know there will be 1 or
2 bad balls an over and uses his variation in an unwise way. He’s rightly been
dropped and he needs to reassess his game but I would not rule out a successful
comeback in time. His skills could definitely combine well and compliment an
otherwise similar attack. There needs to be variation in an ODI bowling attack to
be successful. TRJ is another option who would bowl very tightly but I have
doubts over whether someone of his pace could prosper in ODI cricket. Ajmal
Shahzad is still someone who could offer a lot to England although his time is
running out. At 27 he needs to get it right and quick. His skiddy bowling with
a good bouncer and yorker make him an enticing prospect if he gets his head
right. Jamie Overton is an outsider but as an express pace bowler he would be
an interesting option for ODI cricket and he may be blooded in ODI cricket to
allow England to make a judgement on his test potential. Another Somerset
player who has been dogged by injuries in recent times is Lewis Gregory who I
rate very highly. He bowls with good pace and is a wicket taker in the shorter
formats of the game. He actually sees himself as more of a batting allrounder
but at present bowling looks his stronger suit. There is definite promise there
but in the near future Gregory has to prove that he can stay injury free before
he can start to be talked as a potential England player.
Topley takes the last place and gives the team good
variation. Left armers are important in ODI cricket and someone who is 6’7’’ is
going to be tough to play. Already had good success with Essex and in the u19
World cup and with a promotion to the Lions to boot Topley looks well on the
way to international honours. The current England ODI bowling unit is all a bit
samey since Ryan Sidebottom retired and I think England will be looking to
blood Topley as early as possible. Chris Wood has been overlooked so far for
England representation but he continues to excel in the shorter formats and is
a regular death bowler at Hampshire with good variation. Lack of pace would be
the main concern but he has added a bit in the last year and if he can get a
couple more mph out of his action into the mid 80’s we could well have a
prospect. He is also a quickly improving batsman. What can’t be overlooked by
England is OD specific skills. Too often a Stuart Meaker or Chris Woakes is
picked in the ODI setup with little OD form behind him. Wood at Hampshire has
been given a lot of responsibility in a successful OD team and has OD specific
skills. Keith Barker and David Willey are two other promising left arm bowlers
on the circuit but neither are as skilled as Wood or have the pace and bounce
of Topley so they may be better suited to Test cricket but they are certainly
worth monitoring as having a good left armer is certainly beneficial for ODI
and T20 cricket.
T20
Hales, Stirling, Stokes, Bairstow, Morgan, Buttler, Ansari,
Gregory, C Wood, Finn, Briggs
All of the names have been talked about in the ODI
discussion but I feel this team has a good range of options. 1-9 are all
powerful hitters with all capable of either clearing the boundary regularly or
quality improvisation. The bowling is a combination of guile and pace with spin
and pace reserve options.
