England tour of South Africa - 2019-20

[Bevab]

Malan failed to cross 30 on only two out of the nine games he has played, which includes five fifties and one century. Not to mention his last T20I score was the century. Sure, he might not be the most likeable bloke in the squad, but him missing out is an absolute farce in this form.

 

[Master Bates]

I have a feel that Denly will face the axe.
Malan has to bat at number three. But then where will Bairstow bat? This is a good headache for the selectors. Roy was the most likely to get dropped but with him scoring 70 in the last game, they might go with the same xi.

Also should Morgan bat at 4 or should he go down to accommodate Malan? Plenty of problems for England but these are good.

A very small argument from me regarding Stokes is that (Many people will not agree with me) he is not actually a player which England need in their T20 side. He is not very different from Mark Wood with the ball. I know his hitting prowess but maybe there are better all-round options? (At least with the ball)

 

[wasteyouryouth]

I have a feel that Denly will face the axe.
Malan has to bat at number three. But then where will Bairstow bat? This is a good headache for the selectors. Roy was the most likely to get dropped but with him scoring 70 in the last game, they might go with the same xi.

Also should Morgan bat at 4 or should he go down to accommodate Malan? Plenty of problems for England but these are good.

A very small argument from me regarding Stokes is that (Many people will not agree with me) he is not actually a player which England need in their T20 side. He is not very different from Mark Wood with the ball. I know his hitting prowess but maybe there are better all-round options? (At least with the ball)

I can't think of a better all round option in the world than Ben Stokes, certainly not English. He's also one of the best fielders in the world which is even more added value in T20s.

In T20, maybe Shakib, but I'd take him over Mooen not Stokes.

 

[Master Bates]

Maybe @Aislabie will know who are the pace bowling all rounders for t20s to consider for England?[DOUBLEPOST=1581606372][/DOUBLEPOST]

I can't think of a better all round option in the world than Ben Stokes, certainly not English. He's also one of the best fielders in the world which is even more added value in T20s.

I just feel that he is not able to play freely in the team. He is a big match player and should not bat below 5 at any cost. His bowling is good but in T20s, we have seen him getting thrashed because he doesn't have many variations. (Remember the name?)

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Maybe @Aislabie will know who are the pace bowling all rounders for t20s to consider for England?[DOUBLEPOST=1581606372][/DOUBLEPOST]
I just feel that he is not able to play freely in the team. He is a big match player and should not bat below 5 at any cost. His bowling is good but in T20s, we have seen him getting thrashed because he doesn't have many variations. (Remember the name?)

His numbers aren't great but he has only played 24 out 78 T20Is since his debut. He's played half the T20 (Domestic+international) matches of someone like Buttler who made his debut less than a year earlier.

I just couldn't entertain the idea of not picking him if he's fit. England have four or five players you'd want to face as many balls as possible. They just need to be flexible and use players at the right time.

 

[Aislabie]

Maybe @Aislabie will know who are the pace bowling all rounders for t20s to consider for England?[DOUBLEPOST=1581606372][/DOUBLEPOST]
I just feel that he is not able to play freely in the team. He is a big match player and should not bat below 5 at any cost. His bowling is good but in T20s, we have seen him getting thrashed because he doesn't have many variations. (Remember the name?)

Pace bowling all-rounders are something of a limited commodity; most of them have already been tried to some extent or another: Stokes of course, Woakes, both Currans, Willey and Gregory have all been given a go lately. Two guys who haven't are Benny Howell (really good deceptive seamer, adequate to bat at seven or eight) and Jordan Clark (can do a bit of a Plunkett role with the ball, and a very gifted hitter, but pretty modest numbers).

I'm incredibly repetitive when it comes to talking about how players should have roles in all forms of cricket and that absolutely hasn't changed when it comes to Twenty20s. The difference is that in Twenty20, you can afford to more or less be a specialist at your one role, because on average a number seven batsman faces only about five balls per match.

So my top five England batsmen would be:

Jason Roy (top-order hitter)
Jonny Bairstow (top-order hitter)
Dawid Malan (anchor/accumulator)
Eoin Morgan (finishing hitter)
Jos Buttler (finishing hitter)

I know that Buttler has been good as an opener since Rajastan Royals put him there, but I still think he's more valuable a little down the order where he can be decisive in run-chases. It's not about necessarily where the player will contribute most, but where the player has the highest value above a replacement player. And that, for me, is where Buttler's VARP would be highest (though I don't have the data to confirm this yet).

Next, I'd pick the five best bowlers available; in this case:

Moeen Ali (containing spinner)
Adil Rashid (attacking spinner)
Chris Jordan (death bowler)
Mark Wood (express pace bowler)
Tom Curran (deceptive seam bowler)

You'll notice I've assigned a role to each of the bowlers there - that's just what I do I'm afraid. I divide cricket teams up into roles wherever it makes sense to do so. Those five roles are also the key five that I see as being present in a Twenty20 bowling attack.

The final player you'll want is a utility player - they often won't have a set role in the team: if the batsmen do everything right they might not bat; if the bowlers do everything right, they might not bowl. This is an oft-overlooked cog in a Twenty20 team, but if everyone is available, I'd go for:

Ben Stokes (utility player)

- - - - - - - - - -

So, if everyone was available, this would be my English T20 setup:

First XI

1. Jason Roy (TOH)
2. Jonny Bairstow (TOH)
3. Dawid Malan (ACC)
4. Eoin Morgan (FIN)
5. Jos Buttler (FIN)
6. Ben Stokes (UTP)
7. Moeen Ali (CSP)
8. Tom Curran (DSM)
9. Chris Jordan (DTH)
10. Adil Rashid (ASP)
11. Mark Wood (EXP)

Reserves

• Alex Hales (TOH)
• Joe Root (ACC)
• Sam Billings (FIN)
• David Willey (UTP)
• Liam Dawson (CSP)
• Matt Parkinson (ASP)
• Chris Woakes (DTH)
• Pat Brown (DSM)
• Jofra Archer (EXP)

That does give you a player pool of 20 to pick from, but that's just what's going to happen when there are nine unique roles in the team.

 

[Ed Smith]

No often I read a post on here I agree with in its entirety, but that might be it

 

[Ed Smith]

Moeen

 

[Bevab]

Quinton is on absolute fire right now!

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

South Africa just pulled off a Misbah!