Fringe England T20I players who could benefit from Test stars’ absences

Morgan had a full strength squad at his disposal for the five-match contest in India, making just one change – one that was forced due to an injury to Mark Wood – across the series. At the very least, the home series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan will present an opportunity for fringe members of the England white-ball set-up to press forward compelling cases for selection ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup. While England are the number one ranked T20I side on the planet, the series defeat in India did expose a number of weaknesses, however slight.

Assuming that Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood and Sam Curran will be part of the Test squads so therefore unavailable for Morgan’s side, here are eight players who could benefit from a spot in the starting line-up.

Moeen Ali

With England one (or possibly two) all-rounders down and with Jack Leach firmly established as the Test side’s first choice spinner, Moeen is likely to get a run back in the side. Since captaining England in the last T20I of the 2020 summer, Moeen hasn’t made an appearance in the format, missing all eight games on the tours of South Africa and India.

In that run, Adil Rashid has been deployed as the side’s sole twirler on a set of surfaces that weren’t hugely kind to spin bowlers. Morgan’s use of Rashid as a new-ball bowler in India restricted Sam Curran to a bit-part role with the ball; Curran was also relegated to No. 9 in the batting order for the last game of the series. Moeen should have the chance to show himself to be more valuable than Curran at this point in time.

Reece Topley

With two of England’s first choice seamers in Archer and Wood potentially unavailable and two more current squad members out of form in Chris Jordan and Tom Curran, there’s opportunity for a selection of seamers a rung below the current squad to force themselves into England’s T20 World Cup plans.

Topley, who enjoyed an excellent T20 Blast campaign in 2020, is well placed to get an opportunity. His left-arm angle would give the attack a point of difference in Curran’s possible absence.

Tymal Mills

Tymal Mills is another who offers a left-arm option. Mills, now 28, hasn’t played for England in over four years but his record in domestic cricket, particularly at the death, is excellent. Even before the recent struggles of Jordan and Mills, his case was a persuasive one.

David Willey

A third left-arm quick, Willey can count himself unlucky not to have played for England in any format since his Player of the Series effort against Ireland last summer. A proven powerplay wicket-taker, Willey’s case probably suffered a little during the India series as England looked as penetrative in the powerplay as they have done for a while.

Saqib Mahmood

Mahmood was the leading wicket-taker in this year’s Pakistan Super League before its postponement. A skiddy quick who gets the ball to tail into right-handers, Mahmood is probably the closest player England have to a like-for-like replacement for Wood.

Liam Livingstone

It’s been four years since Livingstone last played for England. The competition for spots reserve batting slots is fierce but Livingstone has nudged his way towards the front of the queue. If England are without both Buttler and Stokes, there’s a reasonable chance that he’ll get an opportunity to put himself in contention for a spot as a back-up batsman for the T20 World Cup.

Sam Billings

Similar to Livingstone, Billings is another who is likely to benefit from the absence of two of England’s top six. Billings enjoyed a breakout year in ODI cricket in 2020 after half a decade of semi-regular involvement in the white-ball set-up. He’ll hoping for a similar year in T20 cricket should he get the opportunity.

Alex Hales

Morgan has recently given mixed messages about whether Hales will return in 2021 but there’s no doubting that Hales’ cricketing ability has little to do with his two years out of the England set-up. Hales would almost certainly make the England XI on merit.