Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone are all possible options to open the England batting in their T20 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand; Watch England vs New Zealand live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 1.30pm
Wednesday 10 November 2021 13:39, UK
Ever since an emotional Jason Roy limped from the field in Sharjah on Saturday, England have been wrestling with an awkward selection conundrum.
What is their best Plan B for the rest of the T20 World Cup, now that Roy's calf injury has forced them to break up his highly productive alliance with Jos Buttler at the top of the order?
The established opening pair have been pivotal to England's success in the tournament to date, particularly when they pulverised the powerplay bowling to grind Australian noses into the Dubai dirt with a brutal stand of 66 from 38 balls.
But as his side prepare to take on New Zealand in Wednesday's semi-final, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 1.30pm, skipper Eoin Morgan is either still weighing up various options or keeping his cards characteristically close to his chest.
"We are blessed with guys who can bat at the top of the order," said Morgan. "Actually, if you look around the highest run-scorers, the big-name players all want to bat or are batting in the top three in every team.
"We're lucky we have guys who queue up and want to bat in that top three, which is great because they want to go head-to-head with the big-name players in the tournament and big-name bowlers in the opposition."
With Buttler in blistering form on the back of that unbeaten 71 in the victory over Australia, followed by a maiden T20 century against Sri Lanka, it makes sense for England to promote whoever they feel can best complement the 31-year-old vice-captain.
It was interesting to see Buttler himself stress his preference for a left-hander to join him at the crease following Roy's injury against South Africa - and also interesting to see Moeen Ali, rather than Dawid Malan, who was carded at three, answer the call.
The all-rounder has 43 T20I caps to his name but, while he has batted in every position from three to eight - with his most impressive strike rate coming at number six - is yet to open an innings.
Moeen's knock of 37 from 27 balls after taking Roy's place showed that his claim is worthy of serious consideration, yet it would appear quite a leap of faith to hand him an opening role for the first time in a major semi-final.
Malan, on the other hand, does have experience of going in first in T20I cricket and, despite often facing criticism for not scoring quickly enough, he has done the job well when given the opportunity.
The Yorkshire left-hander has recorded two half-centuries in five games as an opener, thrashing 76 from 48 balls against an admittedly poor Sri Lanka side last summer and his average in that role stands at a healthy 36.40.
It is also worth remembering that Morgan is well aware of Malan's capability as a white-ball opener, having played alongside him for several years while he consistently made a success of that position at Middlesex.
Of the candidates to fill Roy's shoes, only Jonny Bairstow can boast previous experience of opening with Buttler in T20 internationals. Two of them, to be exact - both during the home series against Australia just over a year ago.
Bairstow made only eight in the first of those games, both at the Ageas Bowl, but did contribute to a whirlwind stand of 43 in four overs that provided the base for a match-winning total.
In the second, Bairstow again departed cheaply and in bizarre fashion, hitting his stumps in the follow-through of an attempted pull against Mitchell Starc and it was Buttler, with an unbeaten 77 from 54, who saw England home.
Perhaps the best reason to give Bairstow the nod against New Zealand is precisely because he, more than any of the other batters, has yet to fire in this tournament in his current role at four.
The 32-year-old was at the wicket to seal victory against Bangladesh and Australia, but has otherwise contributed single-figure scores and a duck against Sri Lanka - so Morgan might feel that moving him is unlikely to cause too much disruption to the rest of the order.
The wild-card option for England, though, would be to promote another big hitter to open - Buttler's Lancashire county colleague Liam Livingstone, whose opportunities with the bat have been limited so far.
Like Malan, Livingstone has performed the role with success at county level and against the South Africans he served a reminder of just how destructive he can be with the bat, carting Kagiso Rabada for three consecutive sixes in his 17-ball knock of 28.
As with Moeen, it might seem too high a gamble to shift Livingstone to the top of the order at this stage, but that also depends on whether England are taking a bold approach towards Roy's actual replacement in the XI.
The conservative move would be to bring Sam Billings into the middle order, particularly if Bairstow is handed the opener's position, but all-rounder David Willey would surely cover more bases.
Willey adds a left-arm element to the seam attack, now missing since the injury to Tymal Mills, and is also an accomplished bowler in the powerplay - perhaps also during the death overs, where England looked ragged against South Africa.
His inclusion would not weaken the batting either - although the experienced Willey has yet to bat higher than seven at international level, his overall T20 record, including a strike rate above 140, suggests he could move up the order if necessary.
Watch England play New Zealand in the T20 World Cup semi-final, in Abu Dhabi, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 1.30pm on Wednesday.
