Brendon McCullum may not take the white-ball reins until January, but his fingerprints are already all over England’s ODI reboot.
A day after reports that Ben Duckett is set to reprise his role as Test opener in the 50-over side, came news that Jamie Smith, the breakthrough star of the summer, will take the wicketkeeping gloves in this month’s series against Australia.
With Harry Brook in as interim captain for the five-match run, which starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday, there is a ‘Bazball’ feel to operations, even with Marcus Trescothick still for now in temporary charge.
The sense is that the personnel split in English cricket is shifting from its previous line between red- and white-ball formats to now separate T20 specialism from the rest, with the Test and ODI ranks brought closer together.
Last year’s 50-over World Cup served as a reminder of how far removed the game’s two shortest formats have become from one another.
The best teams — India and Australia — could count on T20 hitters, yes, but built their campaigns around consistent stroke-makers with fine red-ball records, such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, David Warner and, once fit, Travis Head.
For England, whose Test cricket was at that stage being played at every bit as accelerated a pace, the regret was that some of the next generation batters who had revived their red-ball fortunes were not fast-tracked into the side sooner.
Duckett and Brook are set for prime roles against the world champions, while Smith, who made his international debut against Ireland, now looks McCullum’s man for all formats.
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