Phil Salt has already experienced the winner’s podium, but this time he wants to be central, not peripheral. Two years ago in Australia he was drafted in for the semi-final, didn’t face a ball against India and managed 10 runs in the final while filling in at No.3. Useful, yes, but hardly the tale you retell years later.
“Yes, definitely,” Salt says, asked whether another medal would feel different. “That’s a massive source of motivation for myself. Obviously, I started that World Cup in Australia out of the team. Hopefully, I start this one in the team and put a stamp on it. It’s really simple.”
Since 2023 the 27-year-old has put together numbers that justify the confidence. No one has opened in T20 cricket more often, and nobody has scored more runs while doing it. The gap – close to 500 runs – between Salt and Faf du Plessis in second spot underlines just how busy he has been.
Strip it back to internationals and the leaderboard becomes even starker. There is the rest, then there is Salt, then Abhishek Sharma. Salt’s strike-rate of 169.5 is the only one brushing 170; Sharma, operating in rarified air, is out at 197.3.
“I’d like to catch him,” Salt jokes about Sharma, currently the ICC’s top-ranked T20 batter, with Salt second. “That’s been my goal for a while, even when Suryakumar Yadav was number one. A completely different batter, but I still wanted to catch him.
“I really like watching him bat, I’ll be honest with you. Last night, I was disappointed because he got out early. The fact that he can hit the first ball for six like that, the way he runs down the wicket, fights that line from really straight to get it over the off side, but then also hits a ball wide to him over the leg side. It’s completely different. I’m never going to be him. He’s never going to be me. But I do enjoy watching him bat.”
India, he freely admits, stand in everyone’s path.
“I think they are by far and away the strongest team in the World Cup,” Salt says. “And I’m really excited by the idea that we get to come up against them in a World Cup in their own backyard.”
That backyard is hardly unfamiliar ground. Salt has collected two IPL winner’s medals and owns the highest strike-rate of anyone with at least 25 IPL innings. A tricky statistic to keep hold of, he knows, but evidence all the same that Indian pitches no longer intimidate visiting openers.
“It’s obviously the strongest T20 league in the world so if you can’t go there and pick things up that’ll help you out then you’re probably not looking at it the right way.”
First, though, comes Sri Lanka. Remarkably for someone 83 caps into his international career, Salt is yet to face them.
“I’ll be having a good chat with our analyst tonight,” he says. “I’ll be watching as much footage as possible. I’ll have a good look at them in the warm-up tomorrow. It’s about having clarity on where they miss and what their plans are.”
England supporters may see the upcoming three-match series as a tune-up, but Salt knows places in the XI remain fluid. Jos Buttler is secure, yet the other opening slot has been a revolving door. Will Jacks, Ben Duckett and Dawid Malan have all walked through at various points. A convincing fortnight from Salt would slam that door shut.
The numbers are encouraging. Since the start of last year he has converted 10 of 26 T20 fifties into scores beyond 70 – not quite “daddy hundreds”, to borrow the Test match phrase, but evidence of a player who kicks on rather than plates out a cameo. His method is uncomplicated: strong base, minimal footwork, bat speed through the line. Coaches describe it as “see ball, hit ball”, though Salt bristles at the idea it is unsophisticated. The repetition in the nets is what allows the freedom in the middle, he argues.
Privately, England value more than his runs. He is direct, occasionally brusque, yet always willing to front up – whether to the media, analysts or team-mates. If this World Cup campaign wobbles, Salt is unlikely to leave the talking to someone else.
For now, the focus is on Colombo, not Ahmedabad. The desire, however, is unmistakable: to swap the cameo role for a starring one when the real thing starts later in the year.
It’s no bad ambition for a player who already owns a winners’ medal but would rather be remembered for the innings that secured it.
