Eoin Morgan will lead his side out in Manchester on Wednesday night for a one-off Twenty20 against Pakistan and what could yet prove to be the England captain’s final international of the year, should he decide the tour to Bangladesh is not for him for security reasons.
It was before the eight-wicket T20 win against Sri Lanka in July, shortly after the terrorist attack in Dhaka in which 20 hostages were killed, that Morgan first voiced some trepidation about the first leg of the winter , speaking of “quite a big concern” and adding: “We have always left the big decisions to the ECB.”
Since then the England and Wales Cricket Board has made that big decision, after a risk-assessment by its head of security, Reg Dickason, and yet Morgan remains among two or three players still mulling over whether to make themselves available; he will give his answer to Andrew Strauss, the director of cricket, only after the final fixture with Pakistan is negotiated.
While Morgan has needed time to make a call on whether to lead a one-day side that departs at the end of this month, others have already stated their intention to travel, with the seamer Chris Jordan following on from Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali when, as has now become the norm at press conferences, he was asked about it before Wednesday’s match.
“If selected, I will definitely go. I’d just like to put that to bed now,” said the 27-year-old. “Everything else off the field can take care of itself. When we get there, I’d like to think cricket will take over and we can put in some good performances again for England.”
Asked what information had been shared with the players, Jordan replied: “Our head of security, Reg Dickason, went over and brought back a thorough report – as he does for any trip. It was everything from a security point of view, all of our routes to and from hotels and in and around training and playing days.
“They’ll provide more than enough security. They reckon they’ll overcook themselves on the amount provided. Reg is someone who has been working for the ECB for a long time and someone we trust. I trust his judgment and after the meeting I was pretty happy to go.”
England begin the tour of Bangladesh with three one-day internationals and, were Morgan to opt out, the leadership would in theory pass to the vice-captain, Jos Buttler, who returns for this sold-out match at his home ground of Old Trafford after missing the final two 50-over matches with Pakistan in the 4-1 series win because of a tight hamstring.
With Twenty20 internationals sprinkled around the calendar only sparsely – a recent survey of the current players called for more such fixtures, at the expense of one-dayers – discerning form and trends outside global tournaments is not entirely straightforward. England are a case in point when considering the side that beat Sri Lanka in July.
In that fixture James Vince was at No3 and Bairstow played in the middle order, while debuts were handed to Tymal Mills and Liam Dawson. But here Vince, Bairstow and Dawson are not part of the squad at all, while Mills, despite Twenty20 being the left-arm quick’s sole format at present because of a back condition, was down only for drinks-carrying duties at the time of writing.
Into the side comes Alex Hales, whose rest against Sri Lanka in Southampton meant Buttler played as an opener, while Joe Root is expected to play at No3. Ben Stokes, meanwhile, will take Bairstow’s slot for what will be his first international in the format since his first four balls of the last over in April’s World Twenty20 final were launched into the stands by the West Indies’ Carlos Brathwaite.
England, who have won their last four T20s at home, are looking to be at full strength and the team that finished runners-up on that night in Kolkata could be rolled out for a reunion if Mark Wood misses out on selection as well as Mills and Sam Billings.
Should this come to pass, some will inevitably question whether a chance for such players to be further examined at the highest level has been missed, along with players such as Northamptonshire’s Ben Duckett and Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond. Yet when England do rest and rotate, there are others who point to a dilution of the international game.
Pakistan are the most seasoned Twenty20 side – no national team have played more than their 106 matches – yet England beat them 3-0 in the United Arab Emirates last November, with Jordan masterfully closing out a super over at the end of a tied finale in Sharjah.
Since then, and following a poor World Twenty20, the tourists have installed Sarfraz Ahmed as captain in place of Shahid Afridi and after a long three months, in which the ghosts of Pakistan’s 2010 visit were laid to rest in a friendly encounter, the Test series was drawn 2-2 and a 5-0 one-day whitewash averted in Cardiff on Sunday, the wicketkeeper wants his first match in the job to mark the tour end with victory.
He said: “We did not talk about the past but this tour has been good, we have enjoyed it and found people have been welcoming. I have made friends with Joe Root, Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow – we have been very happy here. Inshallah, we win the match and end on a high note.”
England v Pakistan, T20, Old Trafford, 6.30pm Wed 7 Sept
England (possible): Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, David Willey, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid
Pakistan (possible): Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt, wk), Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Ali, Imad Wasim, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Amad Butt
