Chris Tremlett: T20 World Cup is a shopping window for cricket’s talent
When the T20 World Cup gets going in Australia this weekend, the bigger teams will still have a little while to wait before their campaigns begin.
England don’t start their World Cup until next weekend – when they play Afghanistan – but it’s still a good chance for the team, under Matthew Mott, to get their bearings.
Australia isn’t an easy place to play, given the slight preferences they have with their pitches Down Under, but England will have that extra week to look at some of the other teams who are playing and see what kind of game to expect.
Super 12
Next week will see the group stages begin before the Super 12 – where winners of the group stages progress to play the bigger nations – determines the four semi-finalists.
Australia are the defending champions and I think they will be in the mix this year as well. Beaten finalists New Zealand will be up there too, alongside England and India.
My fifth team to watch would be Pakistan. They’re good with the ball and the bat, and their recent home series with England showed they are able to chase and defend large and small totals – or at least get close.
A World Cup is exciting because it presents players with a chance to show off. It’s a brilliant shop window for some of the fringe lads.
Being on the winning team of an Ashes series catapulted me into the cricketing limelight because it was such a big achievement. This World Cup could be that for a number of players.
World Cup thrust
Look at the way The Hundred thrust Liam Livingstone into the spotlight. He went off and got an Indian Premier League contract after that. The way Harry Brook has performed recently, he could be that player.
The 23-year-old has 316 runs in his 12 T20 International innings so far, with a high score of 81 and an average of 35. He’s so on it at the moment.
On a wider note, I’m not sure I’ve seen an England squad quite like this one in that they can bat right down through to the 10th or 11th man.
Alex Hales’s return has been welcomed – he’s brought so much into the set up already – and I think the likes of Jos Buttler and Phil Salt have been steady, too.
There’s so much cricket in the calendar at the moment that it’s difficult to be at your best for the entirety of the year, but England simply need to make sure they peak in the next month.
We have struggled on the pitches of the subcontinent and Australia previously so seeing us perform well in both arenas over the last month has been a sign of changing times.
T20 cricket can turn in an instant and you usually need one of your players to have a great game if you’re going to win.
England have those players, but so do most other nations.
A World Cup is the place to shine, however, and I do think we could be in for quite a wild ride.