Perth: England batter Phil Salt has said there has not been any firm talk about who between him and Alex Hales will open the batting with skipper Jos Buttler in the upcoming three-match T20I series against Australia and the ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to commence on October 16.
The 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batter wants to simply play competitive cricket and leave the rest to the selectors as the team prepares for the T20I series against Australia beginning on Sunday.
The batter’s comments come in the wake of former England white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan saying Salt is the like-for-like replacement to Jason Roy, who was dropped from the side because of a prolonged lean patch.
However, Salt said “no firm” conversation had been had on the issue.
“No firm and hard conversations have been had yet (about me opening). The obvious thing for me is performance; I don’t really need to be told that. I want to put my own stamp on it with the way I play,” Salt was quoted as saying by Sky Sports in Perth.
“I feel like I’m quite different to a lot of batters that are in this set-up so however you want to put it, I want to take the game on. If you’re not a fearless cricketer you don’t fit into the England team in my opinion,” he added.
Salt pressed his claim for the opener’s berth with an unbeaten 88 off 41 balls in the sixth tie of the recent seven-match series against Pakistan in Lahore. The England selectors could well push his case further in the three-match series against the World Cup hosts.
Salt and Hales — who recently returned to the side after nearly three years in the wilderness — are vying to open with captain Buttler in Australia in the absence of the dropped Jason Roy and the injured Jonny Bairstow.
Morgan said recently that he would like to see Salt partnering Buttler at the top of the batting order.
“There are loads of options to open; you can add Ben Stokes to that list. But the most like-for-like replacement to Roy, who I liked at the top of the order because he didn’t hang around and didn’t waste balls, is Salt, so I would probably lean towards him.”
England have been bolstered for the Australia series by the return of Ben Stokes and Buttler, who missed the entire seven-match T20I series against Pakistan as he was recovering from a calf injury.
“First and foremost there is a series to win,” said Salt. “Obviously everybody has got an eye on the World Cup but it is important to keep the momentum going. We gave ourselves a good start in Pakistan but it’s very important we keep that going.
“We had a debrief and went over how well we did to beat Pakistan in their own conditions. That is very tough to do, especially with some players who have not played a lot of international cricket. Australia are a strong side, we know that. They won the last World Cup and we know how dangerous they are on their day.”
–IANS
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