It has taken five years beyond the date, but on Wednesday , what definitively feels a post-2019 era of English white-ball cricket gets under way in Southampton, where England meet Australia in the first of three T20s.
Until now, continuity has felt the aim, faith kept in as many of the 2019 golden generation as still had the appetite — and room in the schedule — to play limited-overs cricket for England.
One or two have been nudged aside along the way, most notably Jason Roy this time last year, though only after England tried to pick him at the expense of coming man Harry Brook for the 50-over World Cup.
This summer, though, has seen the cleanest and most decisive break yet, on the back of World Cup failures in both formats in the space of nine months. Gone is Matthew Mott, the head coach initially appointed as a facilitator for Eoin Morgan’s continued leadership (only for him to retire within a month), and so, too, are Mooen Ali and Jonny Bairstow.
In fact, with captain Jos Buttler injured for at least the T20s and a doubt for the five ODIs that follow, circumstance has dictated, of the 2019 squad, only two are certain to feature against Australia this month: one is Jofra Archer, who has missed so much of the period since he almost does not count, and the other is Adil Rashid, who is so irreplaceable that England would like to still be picking him at 50.
That Test head coach Brendon McCullum is waiting in the wings to take this team on from January has given it fresh impetus from afar.
In, too, comes a sprinkling of youth: 20-year-old all-rounder Jacob Bethell and 23-year-old batter Jordan Cox both picked to make their international debuts, doubling in an instant the number of players aged 25 or under to have featured in T20Is cricket this year.
What, though, of those caught in between? Jamie Overton, who debuts in the format as a specialist batter, and Saqib Mahmood have horrid luck with injuries as their excuse for not making inroads before now, but for players such as Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone, this feels a pivotal moment.
The pair once brought into the post-2019 team to take it forward have seen their international careers stagnate. Both have been dropped from the ODI squad already, as plotting begins for next year’s Champions Trophy, and must deliver this week or risk being left out entirely when England go to the Caribbean for a white-ball tour at the end of October.
England: P Salt (capt/wkt), W Jacks, J Cox, L Livingstone, J Bethell, S Curran, J Overton, J Archer, A Rashid, S Mahmood, R Topley.
