In ‘Moneyball’, a film inspired by a book about the 2002 Oakland Athletics’ Major League Baseball season, general manager Billy Beane is faced with reviving his team after a spate of departures leave them weakened.
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Of particular issue is replacing star player Jason Giambi, with limited resources meaning finding a like-for-like is unfeasible. “You’re still trying to replace Giambi,” says Beane, played by Brad Pitt, to his collected scouts, whose traditional views on player recruitment leave Oakland Athletics, in Beane’s eyes, hamstrung. “I told you we can’t do it. Now what we might be able to do is recreate him.” His solution was to use an analytical, data-driven approach to finding untapped potential, with Moneyball becoming synonymous with any attempts to bring statistics into sport.
In a way, England’s T20 side face a similar problem after Jofra Archer was ruled out of action for the remainder of 2021. Archer is a huge loss in Test cricket too, especially ahead of an Ashes series in Australia, where he was seen as central to England’s out-and-out pace plan to gain an extra edge on surfaces which have proved unhelpful to their traditional armada of county-honed seam and swing bowlers. But it’s in the shortest form, where Archer is arguably the best fast bowler in the world, that his absence could prove most devastating.
What makes Archer so exceptional is his ability to fulfil a number of roles to a high standard. He is, perhaps, best in the powerplay, unhittable and incisive with the new ball in hand. But really you can throw him the ball at any crunch moment and rely on him to come good, whether that’s one over of heat to break a burgeoning partnership, bowling the 19th to leave too many to get off the last, or defending 16 in a World Cup final super over, he can do it all. He’s a one-man cheat code when it comes to balancing an attack, not unlike Ben Stokes in Test cricket. You only have to look at the effect his absence has on England’s side, leaving them unable to field a spinner at home this summer, to see what a hole he leaves.
So England can’t replace Archer. And to “recreate” him, in Pitt/Beane’s words, will require some creative thinking, and likely need them to sacrifice some of their flexibility. Instead of being able to switch the rest of their attack around and allow Archer to fill in the gaps, they will need specific bowlers for specific roles.
Luckily, they are currently in an era of extraordinary white-ball depth, in bowling as well as batting, and there have been several fringe players put up their hands during The Hundred, and while none of them have Archer’s versatility or skill, many of them can fill more than one role. David Willey has long been renowned as one of the finest opening bowlers going in T20 cricket, and showed his batting prowess too in front of Eoin Morgan, smashing 81 off 45 and then taking 2-9 off 15 balls against London Spirit. Tymal Mills, by some metrics up there with the best death bowlers in the world, claimed an eye-catching new-ball wicket for Southern Brave against Manchester Originals, bowling Joe Clarke comprehensively with the 16th ball of the innings.
Chris Woakes, not playing in The Hundred due to injury, is another intriguing option. Barely seen in T20 cricket in the last few years due to his importance in ODIs and Tests, he showed he’d picked up some new tricks in the IPL, and came back into the England fold with impressive results, albeit against a limited Sri Lanka side. Arguably England’s greatest ever ODI bowler, his skillset isn’t exactly suited to the shortest format, but he’s talented enough to make it work, with his big-tournament experience also appealing. Saqib Mahmood, who starred in the first leg of the Pakistan Super League in 2021, has shown himself as another adaptable bowler well-suited to the challenge of Asian wickets.
Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone could also have a part to play. England’s flexibility would be improved with more part-time options in their top six, and both are more than useful spin options. England will be glad to have, in Morgan, a captain adept at managing his bowlers and exploiting match-ups too, also lessening the effect of Archer’s absence.
Ultimately though, even with a skilful captain at the helm and an attack made up of high-class operators, Archer’s loss is still significant. But while the Oakland Athletics managed to “recreate” Giambi successfully enough to post a post-war record 20-game winning streak, England only need to negotiate Archer’s absence for a short-and-sharp seven-match T20 World Cup campaign. It’s a blow, but it doesn’t have to be a fatal one.
