Although England’s 1 July T20 international was abandoned due to the Durham rain, some of the nation’s pundits and fans were less concerned with the team’s chances against India, and more focused on their lack of leaders.
Former England star Michael Atherton asked Sky Sports Cricket why the country had so few potential leaders. Atherton, a former captain, disagreed with head coach Brendon McCullum’s assessment that there were plenty of options. Atherton thought the only options were Joe Root and Harry Brook.
A short phase that England will overcome, or a failure in planning?
Artherton also questioned whether there had been a failure to “get enough tough senior players” involved in the national team. It wasn’t only about the captain, he said, but the need for a large group of leaders – as Artherton’s former coach Duncan Fletcher used to talk about – to drive a successful team’s behaviour, culture, and performance.
In a scathing assessment, Artherton called England’s Test team an “empty shell”.
Brook is considered favourite for the captaincy role, but that is partly due to his ability to lead across all three formats. Artherton thought picking on that basis would be a mistake, and he would separate the Test and white-ball jobs in both captaincy and coaching.
Artherton noted the toll that a dual role had taken on Ben Stokes, recently retired.
Should Brook step aside with England’s white-ball team?
World Cup winner Eoin Morgan agreed that Brook was the favourite, but advised him to step aside from white-ball if he were to assume the T20 role.
Morgan named Sam Curran, Phil Salt, and Will Jacks (who he called an outside choice) as possibilities for white-ball captaincy.
Stokes’ dramatic retirement
Morgan was shocked by the timing of Stokes’ retirement. Stokes was in the team as England lost by 160 runs on the final day of their third Test against New Zealand. Morgan said his former teammate would have believed he could have gone out in glory by opening the batting and making a “huge dent in the score”. But Morgan said there wasn’t any need for Stokes to open, and the game was well set up for him to bat the next day.
The choice had left a sour taste in England fans’ mouths, said Morgan. Artherton agreed that it was a bad way for Stokes to finish his England career. He called the batting order “self-destructive”.
According to cricket betting odds for SA fans, England were behind India, Australia, and South Africa as favourites to win the T20 World Cup. Most bookmakers gave South Africa around a 6/1 chance of lifting the trophy.
England vs India rained off
The hosts were chasing down 190 for victory before rain put an end to play. It was only two days after Stokes’ dramatic retirement. In Brooks’ captaincy, England’s chaotic summer continued and he watched as India posted 189-7.
England started with nine players who lost to India in March, with Saqib Mahmood recalled to pick up 3-33. Mahmood filled in for the rested Jofra Archer.
India’s Sanju Samson cut Mahmood’s fourth ball to point. The nation had overlooked Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who has been called a “prodigy” and who leads the Indian Premier League scoring charts this year. T20 captain Shreyas Iyer is one of many to have heaped such praise on the young player.
Mahmood and Adil Rashid recorded wickets at the end before rain left four matches still to play, with action recommencing three days later.
Brooks: “It would be a privilege”
Brooks said he would be happy to take on the responsibility of captain. He would be England’s first captain to unite the blazers across all formats since Andrew Strauss in 2009. Brooks said that captaining his country would be the pinnacle of his career.
The potential captain led England against India just two days after playing New Zealand. Brendon McCullum coaches across the formats but the tight schedules have meant England have avoided picking the same captain for almost two decades. Strauss only played one T20 game in that period.
Brooks said it would be a difficult job but that cricket was difficult in general. He previously said he didn’t want to play any franchise cricket other than the Hundred.
Toward the end of Stokes’ term, he cooled on super-attacking batting in Test matches, but Brooks’ potential captaincy could see a return to that style of play. Brooks said that the players enjoyed going out without fear, but that he would have to think about his approach if he were made captain.
