England white-ball coach Matthew Mott can't wait to unleash big guns Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes and Joe Root tomorrow, warning: “They are coming in pretty hot.”
While the nation swelters, the hot spots India will fear most in the opening one-day international at the Kia Oval will be the heat maps in the middle of Bairstow, Stokes and Root's bats. Four consecutive Test wins, on the back of increasingly outrageous run chases, have launched England's 'Bazball' era under red-ball coach Brendon McCullum as a theme park of audacious white-knuckle rides.
Bairstow is averaging 102.33 at a run-a-ball in 2022, Root has unfurled five centuries and Stokes has taken to Test match captaincy like lamb to mint sauce. Now Mott hopes the trio of World Cup winners will transplant their thrillseekers' manifesto to the 50-over game, with three games in six days against India.
