ICC World T20 2014: 'England's batsmen must start to clear the ropes'
Power-hitting remains a problem that Morgan's men must resolve as soon as possible...
By Mark Butcher
Last Updated: 19/03/14 7:45am
Following a seven-wicket defeat to the West Indies in Fatullah, Eoin Morgan's side has one more chance to finalise their plans for the tournament proper - Wednesday's Sky Live clash against India.
Only Morgan (43no) made an impact with the bat as England mustered 131-7 off their 20 overs, a total the West Indies passed for the loss of only three wickets with 23 balls left.
Startling
Former England opener Butcher told Sky Sports that he remains alarmed by the team's ineffective attempts at power-hitting and insistence on batting Bopara at six or lower.
"The startling statistic for me was that England managed one six throughout their entire 20 overs and Morgan batted all of that time," said Butcher. "The West Indies had passed that in their fourth over.
"In these conditions, where the ball is slow and is not coming on, you need to clear the ropes. The side that hits the most sixes will be up there winning the tournament. At the moment England aren't doing that.
"I still don't understand why somebody with the experience that Bopara has - and with the skill that he has on these sub-continental-type pitches - isn't batting further up the order and having more responsibility and more time to build an innings to allow the people down the order to go out there and give it a slap."
Force
West Indies powered to 65-0 in their six overs of powerplay, easily surpassing England's tally of 48-3 in the same period of their innings, as openers Dwayne Smith (36 off 30) and Chris Gayle (58no off 38) tucked into the bowling.
Former all-rounder Dominic Cork said England should contemplate pushing Morgan further up the order to get the most out of the start to their innings.
"The West Indies are a force - they've flown over at the same time as England, they've both had a little time to get used to the wicket and while it was perhaps easier to bowl first and see how England went, they've won easily.
"The question for England is - 'do they know what their best side is?' I disagree with Mark a little bit about Bopara. I wouldn't want to see him right the way up the order - I would like to see Morgan up there, but he doesn't want to do it.
"Do England know their best bowling options? Ultimately, when you are in this type of form and you are trying to force games, you try to do too much and lose wickets.
"I think that's what you've seen throughout a period of time now and eventually they don't get enough runs on the board."
Terrifying
Gayle sat out last week's third and final T20 against England as the West Indies completed a 2-1 series victory, but returned in style in emphatic form for his country ahead of the Windies' T20 title defence by striking two sixes and six fours in an exhilarating innings.
Reflecting on the knock, Butcher admitted that England simply don't have a match-winner of Gayle's potency in their batting line-up.
"He just puts the bowling attack under an enormous amount of pressure," Butcher said. "The great thing about Gayle, other than the distance he can hit the ball, is that he gives himself a little bit of time.
"It's almost as if he's terrifying the bowlers into wondering when he's going to go and drop that big bat on the ball.
"Gayle doesn't mind going 10 deliveries without scoring because he knows that once he gets in and knows the conditions well enough, that he can catch up."
He added: "England don't have that type of player so they need to line themselves up in a way to maximise the resources they have - and I don't think they are doing that."
Watch England take on India in a warm-up match at 1pm on Wednesday, on Sky Sports 2, or press the red button for action from Ireland against UAE in Group B of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.