England are T20 World Cup champions. Can they defend their title?
The Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, will be the backdrop when England get their T20 Cricket World Cup defence underway against Scotland on Tuesday.
This year’s competition, the ninth T20 World Cup since its debut in 2007, sees the West Indies and United States play hosts as 20 teams vie for a title currently held by England.
The last time this tournament was held in the West Indies, England beat Australia in the final to win their first World Cup in 2010.
Back in Barbados
And they start their campaign at the ground on which they won that title, only this time with the likes of native Barbadian Jofra Archer back in the mix.
Test captain Ben Stokes has chosen to stay at home and focus on his knee injury so it will fall to Liam Livingstone, Phil Salt and Harry Brook to pile on the runs.
Buttler’s 50-over World Cup last year was poor but he has been on form at the recent Indian Premier League, hitting two centuries on the subcontinent.
How Archer, with just a few overs in his legs having missed 18 months of England duty due to injury but returning to his place of birth, fares across a gruelling tournament schedule remains to be seen, and England may find themselves relying on Adil Rashid, Mark Wood and Chris Jordan to take the required wickets.
England have managed to avoid venturing to the United States – where matches are taking place in New York, Florida and Texas – and instead face Scotland and Australia in Barbados before matches against Oman and Namibia in Antigua.
The top two teams from each pool then qualify for the Super Eight, where they will face three matches against new opponents before semi-finals and then the final on 29 June.
England’s undoing at the 50-over World Cup last year was a lack of preparation, with players arriving into camp late leaving many undercooked.
Change in England tactics
This year, England’s IPL stars returned from Asia early for a training camp before a series against Pakistan. It is hoped that this change in preparation will be a key factor in improving performances and winning a third T20 World Cup.
Although the format was slightly different, last time out England won three of their five pool matches – beating Afghanistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka but losing to Ireland and having their match against Australia abandoned – before beating India and then Pakistan to lift the trophy.
Archer, from Bridgetown, and Salt, who spent six years in the Caribbean, used to play schoolboy cricket together and return to the scene of their childhood.
T20 World Cup buds
“I played with Jofra from a very young age,” Salt said. “We would have been 11 or 12.
“He’d take the new ball, bowl seamers, then he would come back later on and bowl leggies.
“In the last 10 or 15 overs he’d be whinging for the gloves off me so normally I’d field for the last bit of the innings, have a bowl and he’d be keeping.”
England were defending champions in India last year and choked. They’ll be desperate not to do the same thing again in the Caribbean.