Following England’s 3-2 series victory in New Zealand, clinched after another super-over thriller, Ben Jones of CricViz looks at the key questions Eoin Morgan’s side need to consider ahead of next year’s Cricket World Cup.
THE TWO CHRIS JORDANS
Chris Jordan had another good series for England. Since the start of 2018, Jordan has an economy rate of just 8.34 in T20Is, as well as a cracking strike rate of 15.2. He took wickets in the powerplay and performed well at the death, but perhaps more importantly he swung the new ball 0.68°, more than any other English bowler. It’s a natural consequence of bowling fuller than the slower-ball variation bowlers, but if Jordan can move the white ball then it gives him an edge on other candidates. Bowling at the start and end of the innings, the Sussex man has a clear role that he fulfills excellently.
However, that hasn’t been the case in domestic cricket recently. ‘True Strike Rate’ (TSR) and ‘True Economy Rate’ (TER) compare a player’s figures to the average for the period of the innings they are bowling – ideally, you want to have a negative TER and TSR, meaning you take wickets more regularly than the average, and concede fewer runs. In international cricket, Jordan has just that. But he’s struggled in the same period domestically. England need to work out whether they trust domestic form (bigger sample size, arguably greater pressure in the IPL) or international form when assessing Jordan’s case for World Cup selection.
MALAN MAKES HIS MOVE
Dawid Malan’s stock has never been higher as a white-ball cricketer. The left-hander had a marvellous tour, including a brutal 48-ball century in the fourth match at Napier – the fastest ever in T20Is by an Englishman – which catapulted him to the front of the chasing pack of batsmen looking to cement a World Cup place. His T20I average of 57.25 is now the best ever (minimum 250 runs).
It’ll likely take a significant loss of form or injury for Malan to displace the first-choice top-order players but in the space of a couple of weeks he’s moved ahead of James Vince and Sam Billings.
THE SIX DEBUTANTS
England handed caps to six young hopefuls with mixed results. Worcestershire’s knuckle-ball specialist Pat Brown started the series with the aim of usurping Tom Curran as the primary back-up, variation bowler – something he didn’t manage after conceding runs at nearly 10 per over. Lewis Gregory bowled a couple of cheap overs but ultimately disappointed with the bat, his primary role in this set-up, scoring at just 6.6 runs per over (rpo) – not good enough for a player tasked with being a finisher. Tom Banton, Gregory’s Somerset teammate, is one of the most exciting young batsmen in world cricket, and is already having to cope with some serious hype. He got England off to a couple of fliers, scoring at 10.45rpo in the powerplay, but wasn’t able to post an eye-catching score.
Lancashire leg-spinner Matt Parkinson made a good impression, and with a distinctive style. His average speed so far in T20Is is 74.56kph, making him the slowest bowler to appear in the format since the 2016 World T20. A very aggressive, loopy spinner, Parkinson consistently invited attacking strokes but was rewarded with five wickets from six overs. His Lancs colleague Saqib Mahmood went the distance in the powerplay, conceding 42 from 18 balls, but offers the kind of pace which is not often seen in the English game – bowling 6/7kph faster than his teammates in this series – and should not be written off based on such a small sample size.
THE NEW BALL DEBATE
Jofra Archer is locked in for the World Cup he’ll open up and bowl at the death, probably with two overs in each phase. The question of who will take the new ball with Archer is key. England seem to have moved on from David Willey, which is a very bold decision. Willey’s strike rate and economy are both elite in the last few years, and he offers an out-and-out swing option, as well as the left-arm angle. His numbers are far superior to Sam Curran, another player who fulfils these criteria. The Surrey allrounder was an ever-present against the Kiwis, taking six wickets with an economy rate of 8.50. His brother Tom offers a different skillset, less focused on swing, but will also be in the mix to take the new ball after a solid series.
WHO CAN FINISH THE JOB?
After his success in the 2018 Indian Premier League, where he opened for Rajasthan Royals, Jos Buttler – who was rested for this series – was moved to the top of England’s batting order. He’s had reasonable success there, and is unlikely to move, but the consequence of this switch is that England are lacking a finisher to score quickly in the death overs.
Their fastest death-overs hitter in the last two years has been Eoin Morgan but England would like to have another specialist for that role in the XI. Gregory is the outstanding domestic candidate and is likely to be given another opportunity despite failing to nail his initial chance.
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