Cricket: England brace for an Australian white-ball assault

There may be an autumnal feel in the English air, but the Australians are in town and that raises the cricketing temperature

Paceman Jofra Archer is back in England’s white-ball squad to take on Australia

There may be a distinctly autumnal feel in the English air right now, but the Australians are in town and that always raises the cricketing temperature by a degree or two.

Friends and foes will be reunited on Saturday, as a late summer burst of hard-fought cricket and fierce rivalry gets under way

For the first time this year Eoin Morgan, the England limited-overs captain, has access to most of his biggest stars as England look to end their summer on a high. Only Ben Stokes will be missing as he remains in New Zealand with his father, Ged, who has brain cancer.

England are hopeful that Jason Roy will have recovered from his side injury to return to his slot at the top of the order for the three-match ODI series that follows the trio of T20 games starting at the Ageas Bowl, in Southampton. The return of the pacemen Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who will bowl together for the first time since the first Test of the summer against West Indies, will bring extra spice.

Archer has not played white-ball cricket for England since the World Cup final last July as the 25-year-old was rested for all of England’s limited-overs matches against New Zealand and South Africa. The national selector Ed Smith, though, was effusive about his return to the side.

“Jofra is a remarkable talent — really remarkable and I think people forget just how much he has done,” Smith said. “He comes back into this white-ball side now and it gives another dimension to the team. We are all excited to see Jofra with a white Kookaburra in his hand and he is raring to go.”

Jos Buttler is back after a successful end to his Test summer to add more firepower to an already explosive batting line-up. He is likely to join Jonny Bairstow at the top of the order for the T20s having had success in that position against New Zealand and South Africa. He scored 57 from 29 balls against South Africa in England’s five-wicket win at Centurion Park in his most recent outing for the T20 side.

Australia have brought all their big names with them for this three-week tour setting up what promise to be intense battles between some of the best white-ball players in the world. Australia’s squad includes a destructive batting line-up with David Warner, Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith. They will be captained by Aaron Finch, who is No 3 in the T20 world batting rankings. Their 21-man squad also includes the pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who caused England so many problems during last summer’s Ashes. Nathan Lyon had a white-ball resurgence during the World Cup last year and is included in the squad alongside the leg spinner Adam Zampa, who is No 3 in the bowling rankings.

The previous time these teams met in white-ball cricket was in the World Cup semi-final at Edgbaston last year, which England won comfortably by eight wickets and there will be some scores to settle.

Ed Smith said the return of the big guns would provide an exciting climax to what has been a unique period of international cricket. “After what has been a very demanding and unusual summer, we want to be able to field our strongest XI,” he said. “It’s a wonderful way to finish the summer on a really strong note and after all the hard work everyone has put in behind the scenes to get cricket on, we feel this is a really good opportunity

David Willey, the Yorkshire left-arm seamer, has been left out of both squads despite being man of the series against Ireland, averaging 98 with the bat and taking eight wickets at an average of 18.50. It is yet another blow for the 30-year-old, who was left out of England’s World Cup squad at the 11th hour last year to make room for Archer. Smith admitted it was a “very difficult” decision.

Sam Curran comes from the Test bubble to join the T20 and ODI squads and Chris Woakes, who was an integral part of England’s World Cup-winning team, is selected only for the ODIs.

Lewis Gregory, the Somerset all-rounder, has been dropped and Saqib Mahmood, the Lancashire seam bowler, will be with the squad but only as a reserve.

The 14-man T20 squad perhaps gives an early indication of England’s thinking as they look ahead to the T20 World Cup in India next November and the one in Australia the year after.

They have a particularly difficult conundrum with the top order. Tom Banton has exploded on to the scene over the past year and has what Smith described as a “high ceiling” in terms of what he could achieve. Dawid Malan has an extraordinary T20 record — he is averaging 54.60 after 12 matches at a strike rate of 150 — but Morgan has indicated that he would rather use Buttler as an opener.

This would leave England with a wealth of riches at the top and fewer options in the middle order — opening the door for Sam Billings to bat at No 5 or No 6, having seized his opportunities this summer.

One area of concern is with spin bowling — Adil Rashid has continued to impress having recovered from his shoulder injury but Moeen Ali has had an underwhelming summer and is under some pressure with bat and ball. The only other spin-bowling option is Joe Denly’s part-time leg spin, which means there is no back-up frontline spinner should either Ali or Rashid pick up an injury or if, in Ali’s case, his worrying form continues.

The Times