
After England’s defeat by India on Tuesday, skipper Jos Buttler described his team’s batting as its “super-strength”.
They had failed that day, and there might be signs of slight decline, but Buttler is right. Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow are England’s greatest ODI opening pair. Joe Root has more hundreds than anyone else. Ben Stokes turns up in clutch moments. Buttler is the only man to average 40 and strike at 120 in ODI history. Others wait in the wings.