Harry Brook in action versus India for England
(Picture: Getty Images)England fell to a convincing defeat against India to open their three-game T20 series - and Jos Buttler’s spell as full-time white-ball captain.
The tourists put on 198 at the Ageas Bowl with Hardik Pandya top-scoring on 51 before setting about ripping through the England opening order.
Buttler was bowled first ball as the reply got off to a bad start and only a brief interlude of scoring from Moeen Ali and Harry Brook pushed back against the tide.
Here, we review the key talking points from the match...
Universe Jos: too much on his plate?
This is day one of Buttler’s captaincy, and it is too early to draw too many conclusions from it – especially his golden duck to an absolute peach from Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
But there is a thought to consider: skipper, keeper, opener is a pretty big ask. He is nailed on at the top of the order, the best in the world in that role, so it may be worth considering whether he needs to keep at the World Cup or not.
In Jonny Bairstow, England will have at least one other keeper of similar class in their XI, which would take one thing off Buttler’s plate. He did not make any errors here (there was one half-stumping chance off Matt Parkinson that flicked Hardik’s pad before reaching Buttler), but they seem more likely with more on his mind. Keeping also takes him further away from his bowlers, to whom he can offer calm counsel at times of need.
There are advantages to keeping, of course. He is good at it, and has done it for years in this team. He has a front row seat for reviews and a good view of the field. But it is a lot of concentrating to do.
What’s the best balance?
Generally, under Eoin Morgan, England stacked their batting, and sometimes found themselves exposed with the ball. Here, they gave themselves seven bowling options, with three all-rounders in the top six: Buttler, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone. Only Reece Topley, Chris Jordan and Matt Parkinson bowled their full allocation of four overs, and Sam Curran only getting through two.
The pinch came with the early wickets in the chase, and the fact that Curran and Jordan, at No7 and 8, came together in the 13th over. Worse still was the presence of three genuine No11s – Tymal Mills, Topley and Parkinson – at the bottom of the order. The presence of Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes and even Jofra Archer or Mark Wood would have helped this, but it still felt top heavy.
If Ben Stokes returns for the World Cup, perhaps for Dawid Malan at No3, they will have yet another bowler in the top six (even if Stokes would rarely bowl all four). Could that buy them space for another batter, particularly a specialist in the second half of the innings? In fact, that might have been the role Morgan might have pencilled himself in for, until changing his mind…
Brook bubbles
Amid the rubble, this was a promising performance from Harry Brook. 28 from 23 from England’s No5 after such a disastrous start was never going to be enough, but he kept his composure in a desperate situation, and played some lovely shots. It took a fine catch to get him, too.
Brook has kept his good form for Yorkshire going through a period of carrying drinks for England, but is in both white-ball squads ahead of more senior rivals like James Vince and Sam Billings this month so has further opportunity to make his case. He is extremely high rated by England’s hierarchy, so is not going anywhere fast.
Swing when you’re winning?
England found very little swing with the new ball, through Sam Curran and Reece Topley, who are capable of extracting movement. India, by contrast, found swing throughout the powerplay, most notably when Bhuvneshwar hooped a ball through Buttler’s defences.
Buttler joked that things might have been better if England’s openers had launched the ball into the stands or advertising hoardings a couple of times, but he might consider bringing David Willey back to attack up top. He would strengthen the lower order, too.
