The former England captain Nasser Hussain feels that England, the defending champions of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, are in a struggling position to stay alive for the ‘Super Eight’ stage of the tournament, after losing to Australia and getting a washed-out to Scotland, at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
In their first game, the Jos Buttler-led side were nailed around the park by the two Scotland openers, who put up an unbeaten 91-run opening partnership in 10 overs, being the wet weather in Bridgetown spoiled the rest of the game.
Against arch-rival, Australia, under the coaching of Matthew Motts, the two-time champions looked clueless with their bowling. At the start, they went with the outright pace of Mark Wood, before getting the wicket with the variations. Once they realized the mistake, they opted for the slower ball, but that was already too little and too late, as the 2021 champions became the first team to put up a 200-run team score.
‘They must now avoid the mistake they made in India’- Nasser Hussain
They started the chase pretty well in the aggressive stand of Buttler and Phil Salt, but once that stand was broken, the rest of the batting line-up fell like a pack of cards. With the defeat, England has made the route quite tough for them for the group stage, where they have to beat both Oman and Namibia and that too with a big margin.
The past England captain Nasser Hussain pointed out that the 2019-ODI champions can’t afford to make the same mistakes that kept on doing in the last 50-over World Cup in India, and should aim to go with a fresh mindset.
While writing his column for the Daily Mail, the Chennai-born observes that it’s up to the team to show how good they have been as a unit in the white-ball formats.
‘Make no mistake: Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott are vulnerable. You can absorb one poor World Cup, especially when you began as double world champions, but two letdowns would be trickier to explain away.’ Nasser Hussain wrote for ‘Daily Mail’. ‘It’s up to England to show what a good side they are.’
The renowned commentator also advised the team to not chase the tail anymore and should look to pick the best team for the conditions going for the particular game, rather than believing in the team they had picked for the previous encounter.
‘With their struggles at the 50-over World Cup in India fresh in the memory, I can see why the fans aren’t happy. But they must now avoid the mistake they made in India, and stop chasing their tails.’ Nasser Hussain penned down. ‘Pick the best team for the conditions in front of you, not the one you should have picked for the game before.’
One of the reasons behind England’s struggle in India was not finding the right balance between attack and defense. One of the veteran batters, Jonny Bairstow has been struggling for a long time, as Hussain believes England can look to go with Ben Duckett if the wicket spins.
‘By far the easiest time to bat in that innings was in the powerplay, and, for me, Bairstow should still play against Oman tomorrow if England decide the pitch at Antigua’s Sir Vivian Richards Stadium is a good one.’ The ‘Sky-Sports’ broadcaster Nasser Hussain pointed out. ‘If they think it may turn, then Ben Duckett comes into play, with his sweeps and reverse-sweeps.’
He also understands that the 2010 champions in the Caribbean made a mistake by not going with left-arm pacer Reece Tropley against Australia.
‘Going into this tournament, my hunch was that the pitches in the West Indies would help pace-off bowlers.’ Nasser Hussain observed. ‘For that reason, I’d have picked Reece Topley for the two games in Barbados, with his cutters and variations, instead of Mark Wood, who is all about pace, or Chris Jordan.’
England’s next game is on June 14, against Oman which could be affected by rain at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua
