England will start Wednesday’s three-match T20 series against South Africa minus both Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith, and their head coach, Brendon McCullum, says the side must simply “find ways to deal with” the crush of fixtures thrown their way.
Duckett, Smith and Harry Brook have featured in all 15 internationals so far this summer and then dived straight into the Hundred in August. All three now sit out next week’s short hop to Ireland; Duckett and Smith have also been handed an extra week’s leave in the hope they, as McCullum put it, can “freshen up” before a winter that contains the Ashes, two white-ball tours and a T20 World Cup six months down the track.
The knock-on is obvious. Both openers now miss back-to-back T20I series in a World Cup year, a quirk better planning might have avoided. Phil Salt, absent for the last T20s on paternity leave, is tipped to return at the top alongside either Tom Banton or Will Jacks.
Rob Key, England’s managing director, said 12 months ago the calendar was “easing” when McCullum’s remit was widened to include the white-ball teams. On paper, it hasn’t. There was only a single day between the Hundred final and the first ODI in Leeds, a game England lost by seven wickets having barely trained together.
ECB chair Richard Thompson admitted on Sunday the diary is too full, but also that little can change until the current broadcast deal ends.
“The scheduling isn’t ideal,” McCullum said after England levelled the ODI series in Southampton. “That’s just the way it is and it’s not going to change, so we’re going to have to find ways to deal with it… We’re just going to have to find ways to be able to hit the ground running a bit quicker than what we did in this one.”
McCullum added that he had told Duckett: “I think you need to freshen up. You’ve played so much cricket and you’re such an influential player for us over the next few months.” Smith was offered the same break. “It gives the other guys opportunities, and it’s exciting, too. If we just rely on 11 players, then we’re not really going to be competitive.”
One of those “other guys” is Sam Curran. The Surrey all-rounder has forced his way back through strong county and Hundred form and will bat in the top six against South Africa, a first under McCullum’s watch. The pair shared what the coach called an “honest conversation” at breakfast in June.
“The message to Sam was that a lot’s come to you quickly and you’ve had a lot of success and a lot of fame, and a lot of things have fallen your way,” McCullum explained, “but, of late, your performance had just tailed off a bit… With us resting both Jamie and Ben, it gives us the opportunity to bring Sam in and he’ll get his chance to bat in the top six.”
Selection aside, England are expected to stick with the spin-heavy blueprint trialled against West Indies in June. The theory is simple enough: surfaces slow down at night in South Africa, and the World Cup in India will ask similar questions. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are certainties; Rehan Ahmed could yet play the third spinner’s role, especially if the batting is lengthened by Curran at six.
There is, admittedly, not a lot of wiggle room. England head for New Zealand in October, then Sri Lanka, before turning around for the Ashes and the World Cup. McCullum’s blunt verdict? The schedule is what it is. His task, and England’s, is to make it work rather than wish it away.
