No doubt both camps will inform us that the fresh faces bring energy to their squads. England have stuck to the men who just managed to win the high-scoring series against New Zealand in June with Moeen Ali, who was rested/protected then, in effect replacing Root. Nonetheless there are still one or two oddities. In England’s last match against New Zealand at Chester-le Street Jonny Bairstow, deputising for Jos Buttler, cracked an unbeaten 83 from 60 balls. He might have reasonably expected that this was sufficient to earn him a place in this squad.
No doubt both camps will inform us that the fresh faces bring energy to their squads. England have stuck to the men who just managed to win the high-scoring series against New Zealand in June with Moeen Ali, who was rested/protected then, in effect replacing Root for the second half of the domestic tournament. He has not played for his county since 1 August, which is a strange way to prepare for these “vital” matches.
Given England’s determination to treat these one-day games with total conviction perhaps we should not take too much notice of how their opening pair perform when considering the team’s next challenge at Test level, against Pakistan in the UAE. But we surely will – with some justification. Moeen is designated to open with Alex Hales, which is an appetising prospect. Should one of them be significantly more successful than the other then his chances of opening the batting alongside Alastair Cook in England’s next Test are likely to be enhanced. Likewise it is always interesting whenever Adil Rashid gets an outing. Currently he has the dubious record of playing 11 ODI matches in six years and, of course, he still awaits a Test debut.
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