The Times - UK (2020-08-28)

64 2GM Friday August 28 2020 | the times

SportCricket

not to bring in an extra player as cover

for Roy meaning that England now

have only 13 players in their official

squad — all of whom are likely to play

at least one of the three matches.

An additional three reserve players,

Liam Livingstone, Reece Topley and

Pat Brown, are also in the biosecure

option alongside Ali and Adil Rashid.

Chris Jordan has also returned to the

side after surgery on a bicep injury and

will lead the attack alongside David

Willey, with one of Tom Curran and

Saqib Mahmood likely to make up the

pace attack. Lewis Gregory, the Somer-

set all-rounder, provides another seam-

bowling option. “Banton is naturally a

top-order batter, but at a time when we

have top-order batters in abundance

and actually lack middle-order players,

it’s sometimes difficult to get him in the

position that is his strength,” Morgan

said.

England have, at this stage, decided

Roy injury opens door for Malan

How they could line up

England

Jonny Bairstow (wk), Dawid Malan,

Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan (c), Tom

Banton, Sam Billings, Joe Denly,

Chris Jordan, David Willey, Adil

Rashid, Saqib Mahmood

Pakistan

Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman,

Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali,

Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad

Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Haris

Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi,

Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz

England v Pakistan

Today, 6pm

Emirates Old Trafford

TV Live on Sky Sports Main Event

Radio BBC 5 Live Sports Extra

Jason Roy has been ruled out of
England’s three-match T20 series
against Pakistan with a side strain,
significantly weakening the batting
line-up.
The hard-hitting opener, 30, picked
up the injury in training this week dur-
ing the white-ball squad’s preparations
at Emirates Old Trafford, where the
first match is due to be played this even-
ing. A scan showed a strain on his left
side that Eoin Morgan, England’s
limited-overs captain, does not believe
will be serious enough to sideline him
from the T20 and ODI series against
Australia in September.
It does, though, harm their chances
in this series. The England team are
missing anyone who played in the
Test series against West Indies and
Pakistan so the likes of Jos Buttler,
Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer are
already out, while Alex Hales is still
barred from the side after failing a
second drugs test before the World
Cup last summer.
The absence of Roy — who has
scored more T20 runs for England
than anyone but Morgan over the
past five years — means that
England will be forced into a change
at the top of the order.
Dawid Malan, returning to the
squad after injury, is likely to open the
batting with Jonny Bairstow. Malan, 32,
scored 103 from 51 balls in the final T20
of England’s series against New
Zealand in November and has
returned to the England squad
after scoring a double century
for Yorkshire in their four-day
Bob Willis Trophy match
against Derbyshire recently.
“Dawid, in particular,
every time he’s
available, he’s put
himself forward as
the next man
simply by
weight of runs,
the rate at which
he scores them,”
Morgan said.
He hinted that Tom Banton, who has
made his name as a top-order batsman
for Somerset, will bat in the middle or-
der, with either Moeen Ali or Joe Denly
coming in at No 3.
Denly, who bowls occasional leg
breaks, gives England another spin

bubble at Old Trafford. Test players

such as Buttler, Archer, Joe Root

and Chris Woakes are expected to

be selected to face Australia, begin-

ning with three T20s at the Ageas

Bowl from September 4, so these

three matches give England a chance

to give younger players another op-

portunity to show what they can do.

These three matches were original-

ly scheduled to be part of England’s

preparations for the T20 World Cup

in Australia in October and Novem-

ber, which has now been postponed

because of the coronavirus

pandemic. However, Morgan

believes that an extra year’s

preparation will be beneficial

for the younger players in the

squad.

“A lot of the guys that are in the

squad at the moment are young guys

coming through and, when you’re at

that stage of development in your

career, six to eight months to 12 months

is actually quite a considerable amount

of time,” Morgan said.

“The big challenge for those guys is

getting an opportunity to go away and

play between now and then in the

winter.

“The IPL is going ahead, the Big

Bash is going ahead and we have a

long tour to India, which actually

frees up guys to play a full Big Bash

and make a case for selection in the

new year.”

Elizabeth Ammon

h

”

Sam Billings

Age: 29 County: Kent

T20 internationals: 26

Key stat: 132 — his average

in the three-match

one-day series against

Ireland this summer

Tom Banton

Age: 21 County: Somerset

T20 internationals: 3

Key stat: 549 — runs he

scored in the T20 Blast

last year. Only Babar

Azam hit more

Dawid Malan

Age: 32 County: Yorkshire

T20 internationals: 10

Key stat: 153.77 —

strike rate in T20Is is

better than any England

player with more

career runs