Jos Buttler is likely to miss England’s third T20 against Pakistan at Sophia Gardens on Tuesday after returning home to be with his wife ahead of the impending birth of his third child. Moeen Ali will lead a heavily modified team if the predicted storm clouds clear in time for the match.
England chose what they thought was the strongest eleven for Saturday’s match at Edgbaston and were rewarded with a 23–run victory, but that suggests that for the third game of the series – Headingley’s first game was lost to Rain – they will use the most players who missed Birmingham. It also allows them to rest Jofra Archer, who took two wickets on Saturday in her first international appearance in more than 14 months.
Archer took part in training on Monday, albeit at a less than full intensity, and is expected to return to the side for the final match of the series, on Thursday at the oval. “He’s going to be great for us,” Will Jacks said.
“It’s great for all English fans, even Cricket fans from all over the world. Everyone wants to see him bowling. He played with good speed in the nets, good speed in the middle, good Yorkers at the gone. It is a great advantage.”
Buttler was named Birmingham’s man of the match after scoring 51 from 84 balls, but left the group before heading to Cardiff on Sunday. Although the management did not rule him out of the game on Tuesday, his return is unlikely, especially since meteorologists predict heavy rains for much of the day. The clouds should clear in the evening and if Tom Hartley can play, he will probably make his T20 international debut, with Sam Curran and Mark Wood also in the squad.
Buttler’s absence would force a change at the top of the batting order, with Bairstow, Jacks and Ben Duckett all able to serve as an opener alongside Phil Salt. Jacks has the advantage of having concluded a successful opening partnership with Salt for Pretoria Capitals in the South African SA20, but he may prefer to get more used to a relatively not known role at N° 3.
“Phil and I have played a lot of Cricket together, which really helps when it comes to England,” Jacks said. “We understand each other’s games very well and we are both those kind of high-level fluid drummers that everyone has these days.”
Jacks has spent most of his T20 career as an opener, but has come on at first sight in his last seven caps, as he did during a successful stint with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League. “I kind of proved to myself that I can get to N°3,” he said. “Every time I hit there now, I get more experience, I learn new things and I’m just building my repertoire of things that I can do. I am new to batting at N ° 3, I am learning at work. I would like to think that I have improved.”
