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.
He said: “Having watched from the outside for a while, they are obviously world class players and, as a coach, it's a great opportunity to sort of learn from some of the best players probably in this format of all time. I think they'll bring some energy into the group. They're really excited to be there.
"I spoke to them and they're like, 'Yeah, can't wait' - so I think it's a fun environment, and they're really looking forward to coming back and building on what they did in the Tests, albeit in a different format. I don't think they'll have to change a hell of a lot the way they've been playing. It is a slightly different format, but they come in pretty hot as well. We're straight into it, but that's just the modern game - it's a pretty congested schedule.”
Mott was relieved to chalk up a consolation 17-run win in the final Twenty20 international against India at Trent Bridge on Sunday, reserving special praise for new white-ball skipper Jos Buttler's maturity under pressure. Two vapid defeats at Southampton and Edgbaston, especially with the bat, had removed a layer of gloss from the Test team's funfair rampage, but Buttler's leadership when Suryakumar Yadav's sensational hundred threatened to inflict a T20 whitewash held up admirably.
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Mott said: “When you win games and you’re doing it easily, you don’t really learn anything. The way he responded, especially after the second loss and the series loss, I thought he spoke exceptionally well in the group about these being the times where you learn about character. We’re going to learn more about ourselves playing great teams like India and South Africa leading into a World Cup - we’re going to learn more about what we need in Australia when we’re put under pressure. We don’t like losing, but I think there is plenty that we’ve taken out of this (T20) series already and it sets us up well for the summer.”
Mott is also confident Buttler will cope with the demands of captaincy, keeping wicket and opening the batting after taking over the baton following Eoin Morgan's glorious seven-year reign. Buttler and Jason Roy's opening partnership misfired over the short course, yielding only 53 runs between them in six innings. But Mott, who led Australia's women to a Twenty20 world cup triumph two years ago, said: “Whenever you come in to take over a team, when you’ve had such a dominant leader for a long time, it’s a real feeling-out process. I’ve been really impressed with how he’s done that and more impressed that he hasn’t actually got the runs but has still led really well. That shows a lot about his character and his presence in the group.
“And when he starts scoring runs, that conversation will die off pretty quickly. He’s been in an unbelievable run of form and he’s missed out a couple of times but he’s certainly not out of form. For a young international captain, Jos was magnificent under pressure. I've said to him, 'You're captain, you're batting, keeping, all that, you lead from the front and then the leadership will take care of itself.' I think he's he's very, very well respected in that group - a very balanced person. And I think they'll really gravitate to him as he as he gets his teeth into it.”
