Sky Sports Cricket’s Nasser Hussain says England should restore experienced players to their ODI set-up and build the team around them.
White-ball captain Jos Buttler was missing from England’s series against Australia through injury, with Joe Root rested, while Ben Stokes has indicated he would return to the white-ball set-up if asked.
England drew their T20 series against Australia 1-1, with the ODI series going 3-2 in favour of the visitors.
Despite a lack of experience in the side there was encouragement in the performances of Jamie Smith, Brydon Carse, Will Jacks, and Ben Duckett.
But Hussain is clear that England must establish the roles of key stars Buttler, Root, and Stokes before deciding the rest of the team as England build towards competitions such as the Champions Trophy.
“Buttler comes back, Stokes has said if asked he will come back, and then there is Root,” said Hussain.
“They are brilliant white-ball players.
“They deserve the right to know what their position is – they are Joe Root and Ben Stokes.
“Do we want them back? That is they key decision McCullum and Buttler have to make.
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Former England captain Eoin Morgan picks his ideal England ODI XI.
“Stokes, I am a bit worried about workload – and now he is a complete all-rounder if he comes back.
“He is Test match captain and all-rounder which is so important. You want to use him in as many Test matches as possible.
“Joe Root, when that collapse was happening [England slipped from 202-2 to 309 all out in the deciding ODI against Australia] he may have been, he would have been one, who would have been like ‘woah it is spinning now. We were hitting down the ground. We are going to have sweeps and reverse sweeps. Get our scores down a bit and go for 350 instead of 400’.
“He would have used his nous. He is such a good player of spin.
“The Champions Trophy is in Pakistan, it will be played in spinning conditions, sub-continent, you would want Root around. I would have definitely had Root back in the side.
“Once you get those decision out of the way then you fill the gaps.
“What you get from senior players is consistency. I would do the senior players first and then who has impressed me.”
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Michael Atherton says England has learned many lessons during the Australia ODI series this summer.
Buttler needs to decide his role in order to be best captain
One of the big decisions that the white-ball team has coming their way is just what skipper Buttler’s role is in the side.
There has been talk of Smith keeping the gloves and Buttler moving up the batting order, Hussain believing that Buttler needs to decide for himself what his role is on the pitch in order to maximise his potency as captain.
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Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain says Jos Buttler needs to be the one making decisions for England.
“The other thing with Jos Buttler – the coach [Matthew Mott] has moved on, but the reason we are having this white-ball reset is because the last two World Cups have not gone at the standard that England now expect from their white-ball side,” he said.
“It shows how their standards have increased because they lost a semi-final [to India in this year’s T20 World Cup]. They expect to be in finals because of what Eoin Morgan and the side did and Jos himself did in T20 cricket.
“So, what is Jos going to do? What position is he going to bat? Is he going to keep wicket? And are you going to make the right decisions off the field.
“I think in the last two World Cups, at times they didn’t make the right decisions.
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Ben Duckett batts his way to a century at Bristol in the fifth ODI match between England and Australia.
“You go back to the 50-over World Cup vs South Africa, Mumbai. They decided to field first, they were all cramping up, they couldn’t bat.
“Buttler himself needs to make the decision of where he is going to bat and is he going to keep? To make the best decisions as captain and to be the best batter he can be, because he is England’s greatest ever white-ball batter.”
When are England next in action?
England travel to Pakistan for a three-match Test series starting on October 7 with the first two Tests taking place in Multan before the teams head to Rawalpindi.
First Test: Multan – October 7-11
Second Test: Multan – October 15-19
Third Test: Rawalpindi – October 24-28
Every match from the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup is also live on Sky Sports from October 3-20 with Australia aiming for a third straight title and seventh overall and England seeking to triumph for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2009.
Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.