With the World Cup just a couple of months away, it's worth starting this post with a reminder of just how bad England's limited overs cricket team was this time 4 years ago. Our batting line-up offered about as much excitement as a sudoku puzzle with players better suited to the longer format of the game such as Gary Ballance, Ian Bell and James Taylor occupying spots in the top order. Our bowling still relied on the trusty pairing of Stuart Broad and James Anderson plugging away outside off-stump and the only mystery to our spin department was the perplexing selection of James Tredwell. The players and the way in which they played were a throwback to a time before T20 cricket and it was no great surprise to see us crash out of that tournament early on.
4 years later and we have transformed ourselves in a typically non-English manner to be the most exciting and most dynamic side in white ball cricket today. Yes, there are still plenty of areas to tighten up but watching England play 50 over or T20 cricket is now a joy as opposed to an embarrassment as it was in 2015.
I chose not to write anything following England's defeat in the final game of the ODI series against West Indies which saw the hosts level it 2-2. I don't think there was much more to be said that I hadn't said before in regards England being vulnerable to that kind of cataclysmic collapse. The pitch, of course, didn't help and you would fancy that had England have won the toss that they too would have put the West Indies under some pressure in the 1st innings of the match but still the fact remains that England are something of an all or nothing team. At times they have to realise that a score of 250-280 might be enough to at least give them a chance in the game but instead England's mindset is akin to playing a game of hearts on the computer and trying to shoot for the moon every single time - they need to learn to play the cards dealt to them or else they will come up short again in the World Cup.
Since that match, England have won the opening 2 games of a 3 match T20 series and done so in commanding fashion without several of their first choice players. Jason Roy remains injured and Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali have all been rested ahead of their involvement in the IPL which starts in less than 2 weeks time. As such, opportunities have been presented to several fringe players and to date several of those guys have taken their chance to impress and push their case for a call up to the World Cup squad.
Sam Billings
I have to admit that I have been fairly scathing in my assessment of Billings in the past. He was a player who was fast-tracked into the side following that calamitous World Cup campaign of 4 years ago but has never really managed to cement his place in it. It started fairly well for Billings with a series of good scores between 2015-2017 that at least kept him around the first 11. However, since his last ODI 50 on England's previous tour of the Caribbean in 2017, Billings has managed just 32 runs in 7 appearances. His plight hasn't been helped by the fact that he is switched in and out of the team, often having to bat in different positions from game to game but equally, it would be fair to say that he hasn't taken his opportunities. With the emergence of Jonny Bairstow as an ODI player his chances of getting a game for England have also slipped and Alex Hales is now very much seen as first reserve for England.
That being said, as Billings demonstrated on Friday night, he still possesses all the attributes to give England something a little bit different in their batting line-up. While top order hitters like Hales, Bairstow and Roy can win the game for England in the first 20 overs, we hadn't seen such a nicely crafted innings in any of the 5 completed limited overs games prior to Billings match winning 87 in the 2nd T20 game. Coming to the crease with the score at 32-4 after 5.2 overs he combined with Joe Root to nudge and nurdle the bowling around and get England into a position to launch an assault on the West Indies bowling later on. Some of the shots he then played in the last couple of overs show just what a rare talent he is as England plundered 44 from the last 12 balls to knock the stuffing out of the West Indies - you can watch Sam Billing's flex his muscles in the later over from about 17mins into the video below.
Billings too will travel to the IPL and meet up with reigning champions CSK who are captained by one of the greatest finishers of all time, MS Dhoni. Billings will hope to be given the opportunity to play alongside and against such world-class talent in a bid to force his claim for a call up to the England World Cup squad by catching the eye of the selectors in the same way that Jos Buttler did in last year's IPL.
Tom Curran
I genuinely believe that the wrong Curran was purchased during last Autumn's IPL auction and in fact when Kings XI Punjab completed the purchase of Tom's younger brother Sam for the eye-watering amount of £800k it was the older Curran brother's picture they showed on the screen at the auction - oops!
You can understand given Sam's exploits in the Test series against India last summer that there would have been a large amount of excitement about the teenage left-hander who swung a couple of Tests in England's favour. However, Tom Curran in my mind is by far the more consemate player when it comes to T20 and ODI cricket as his record for England in the last 12 months and for Sydney Sixers this winter demonstrates.
There will probably be space for 5 seamers in the World Cup squad and England will need to choose between Woakes, Wood, Willey, Plunkett, Curran, Archer and Jordan. Woakes seems the natural leader of the attack in the 50 over game and I believe at the very least that England will want David Willey as a left-arm option in the squad. Mark Wood's form and fitness have seen him deliver some top-class performances of late so you feel that it will probably come down to 2 more from the remaining 4. The real concern in the Caribbean has been the lack of middle over wickets from those backup bowlers with the once reliable Liam Plunkett managing just 1 in 4 appearances. England have a decision to make on Plunkett as to whether his drop in pace is just a temporary blip or whether he's now passed his sell-by date.
The other question then remains as to whether Curran can fill that spot as a middle over wicket-taker. Is he capable of knocking batsmen over when they aren't trying to play a shot a ball? Last year we saw a guy like AJ Tye who is prolific in T20 cricket struggle in the 50 over matches against England simply because while variety is still important in ODIs, having a bit of discipline, hitting a consistent length and asking the batsmen to manufacturer a shot are all key skills to the game. In that respect, the big plus for me in regards Curran is the fact that he still plays 4-day cricket for Surrey (he took 19wickets @ 16 as Surrey won the county championship) is something that the likes of Plunkett and Jordan can't claim to do. That suggests that he is able to bowl that top of off-stump line that at times (particularly in England) is what is needed with the odd yorker and slower ball thrown in for good measure.
Preview for 3rd T20
Chris Jordan's 4-for and a fine knock from Joe Root alongside the above-mentioned effort from Sam Billings secured the series for England and they will go into tonight's game looking to complete a whitewash.
The match itself will be played at the same venue (Warner Park, Basseterre) as the 2nd game which suggests that there should be something in it for the bowlers once again. What you hope that England have learned from their last encounter is that they don't necessarily need to go gung-ho from the off especially against this West Indies team who lack a genuine spinning threat in the middle overs.
We saw in the first game of the series that the real difference between the sides was England's Adil Rashid who delivered 1-15 (would have been 1 for 12 but for a misfield from Tom Curran in Rashid's last over) compared to the 1-40 that Nurse and Allen delivered from the 5 overs they bowled. In the 2nd match, while Allen got West Indies off to a good start in the powerplay with 2 wickets, his and Bishoo's efforts in the middle overs alongside some expensive bowling from debutant McCoy let England off the hook. Had WI had a player of Rashid's calibre then it's entirely conceivable that England would have struggled to make 140 but as it was the momentum going into the 2nd innings was all with England and we saw the hosts wilt under the pressure.
This is a great chance for England to demonstrate that they can play street smart cricket, target the weaker bowlers, win the big moments and put Jason Holder's captaincy that has often lacked imagination during both the ODI and T20 matches under some pressure. Then from an individual point of view we'll look to see who else might throw their hat into the ring for a spot in England's WC squad.
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