Ahead of their third match of the 2024 T20 World Cup against Oman, England may have a couple of selection decisions to make as the defending champions look to revive a campaign that could end in a shock group stage exit. One of them, says Mark Butcher, is to bring Ben Duckett into the fold, replacing Jonny Bairstow at No.4.
According to the former England international, Duckett is the superior option on two counts; one, for being the better player of spin and two, for being a left-hander who breaks up a string of right-handed batters in England's top six of Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Will Jacks, Bairstow, Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone.
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Butcher said, "I think these pitches [in the World Cup] have been tricky, haven't they? There's not been any flat ones amongst them. So I want as much batting skill in there as I can possibly get. Before England's innings started [against Australia], [Adam] Zampa's four overs were going to be absolutely crucial and when he came into the attack, he had a couple of right-handers to bowl at, with one in particular in Jonny who's quite a stiff player. He's a hitter of a cricket ball. And what they needed was somebody with a bit more touch, and what they needed was a bit more left-right through the order."
He did mention that England's squad selection for the tournament was part of the issue, saying, "Your seven batters are much more comfortable at the top of the order. Therefore, you have to make the decision as to not necessarily which one is going to do better for you at the top, but which one is going to do better for you in the middle. And Jonny is not that guy.
"This is not a slagging off of Jonny Bairstow by any means, it just isn't his super-strength to go in the middle overs when spin is on, starting against that and be able to take those guys down. He'll take them down if he's 30 not out having gone in at the top, but it's just not his super-strength [to come in in the middle]."
Duckett showed his ability against spin in the red-ball format earlier this year when England toured India. While he did have his struggles against R Ashwin, he scored at quicker than a run a ball against India's left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, while averaging 40 across the series. Meanwhile, Bairstow struggled in that series and had an inconsistent Indian Premier League season immediately afterwards.
In all T20 cricket, Duckett has scored 761 runs against spin at No.4, striking at 143 runs per 100 balls. Bairstow has scored 576 runs at a similar average (28.8 vs Duckett's 29.2), but strikes at 133. So there are numbers backing up Butcher's thoughts, as well as the aforementioned advantage of Duckett breaking up the littany of right-handers. But Butcher himself expressed a lack of faith in England's team management to make the change, saying that it would "be like saying they got it wrong in the first place."
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