Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue – three very important Test bowlers for England – are likely to be rested for the five T20Is in Australia in November-December.
England will play eight white-ball games in all, with the three-ODI rubber kicking off on November 13 at the Optus Stadium in Perth, following which the T20Is will take place from November 21. And since England are scheduled to play three Test matches in South Africa just a couple of weeks after the final game, as per a report in Daily Mail, the three fast bowlers above are likely to be pulled out of the T20I series. Clearly, England are prioritising Test cricket, so when they take the field for the first Test on December 17, their best pacers are available to unleash their fury on the hosts’ batsmen.
“Right through the schedule, we will look at what the priorities are and how we are able to manage the key players and personnel so that English cricket has the best opportunity to succeed in those times,” England white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum said.
“How do we make sure we have got the best players available for that stuff? We will see, probably the fast bowlers in particular, given a bit of a freshen up leading into that Test series, so therefore the T20s may be an area where we can introduce some new talent, which will be important for us as well, to keep growing our talent base in that space.
“We will work it out. We will do what we think is right to ensure everyone has the best opportunity to succeed, and that will include, at times, having to sit guys out,” he added.
England now have a new Test head coach at the helm. It’s Stephen Fleming, another New Zealander. Fleming was appointed after McCullum was sacked from that role, following a 2-1 Test defeat by tourists New Zealand in June. However, both are long-time friends and also run a meat business together. The decision to rest the trio of fast bowlers is something they can discuss together. They must already have, frankly.
The Tests against South Africa will be Fleming’s first assignment after he opted out of the three Tests against Pakistan recently. When asked how he and McCullum were different, the former Chennai Super Kings head coach said: “I’ll bet on the favourite, and he’ll bet on the longest odds possible. It depends on which timeline you want to talk about, but for me, the way they changed the nature of Test cricket was quite remarkable. I have a huge amount of respect for the courage that it took. Obviously, the last 12 months it hasn’t evolved as they would have liked, or the fans would have liked, but as a lover of cricket, I was very impressed with how the team went about it.”