Jonny Bairstow blitz leads England to victory... SOUTH AFRICA V ENGLAND TALKING POINTS

NICK FRIEND looks back on some of the key talking points to emerge from England's win in the first T20I against South Africa

England’s batting debate

Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan.

For the first time this winter, England have played their cards. Between now and the beginning of the T20 World Cup in India, it would be some surprise were they not to change, at least as Morgan tests out different plans in search of perfection.

Roy’s audition was short-lived on this occasion – hardly the start he would have wanted. It is no secret that the Surrey man has a weakness when starting against spin, and those issues were unwrapped expertly by George Linde on debut, who enticed him to edge a drag-down to de Kock. If nothing else, it was a reminder of why Roy has rarely been spoken of as the man to drop into the middle order – against an older ball with the spinners operating.

The Buttler debate, meanwhile, is long-running: how best to utilise perhaps England’s greatest-ever white-ball batsman? This was the 11th T20I in a row in which he has opened the innings; in the previous 10, he averaged 51. Here, he managed 7 off 6 balls, before splicing to cover in ugly fashion.

During his recent IPL stint with Rajasthan Royals, he was shifted down into the middle order for the good of a team heavily reliant on its top-heavy batting line-up and in need of his combination of nous and fireworks. With the extent of options at England’s disposal, a similar backward step seems unlikely, even if there would be some logic attached.

On Wednesday, Morgan explained: “To start with, you need to try and figure out what your best six or seven batsmen are. Then, the challenge within that is getting them in roles that best suits them and best suits the team, but also gives you the best chance of winning the game. Those are the challenges.”

^{Faf du Plessis made 58 for the home side}

Bairstow and Stokes rekindle Newlands memories

For a long time, Newlands was the scene of the finest hour for Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes. Their 399-run stand at the start of 2016 was the occasion of Bairstow’s emotional maiden Test hundred and, for Stokes, the partnership during which he hammered the fastest Test double century by an Englishman.

Ahead of this encounter, four years on, Stokes spoke with a smile as he reflected upon those remarkable days. He has fried bigger fish since then, of course.

On this evening, the pair came together with England in some significant bother at 34 for 3 – one for fans of irony, given the amount of talk ahead of proceedings about a much-vaunted batting line-up.

Bairstow, as so often when he has had a point to prove, threw himself about in imperious fashion. He hit flat sixes off Tabraiz Shamsi and hammered a pull shot off Beuran Hendricks so hard that it raced to the midwicket boundary before the television camera could even react. To his next ball, he opened the face and sliced over backward point for four.

In a batting line-up with such a wealth of options, Bairstow was the man shunted into the middle order to accommodate Buttler at the top. Not that the move should have been taken as a slight in the first place; rather, it was a nod to his ability against spin – as emphasised against Shamsi, and his suitability to perform the role better than others. This was quite some validation.

Amid the outcry that the World Cup-winning opening axis should be split up, it is worth remembering that Bairstow – for all intents and purposes – began life as a middle order player, came into international cricket in the role and batted 37 times for England in limited-over cricket before opening at all.

Whether it’s an innings that actually helps his quest to return to the top of the order is unlikely. While it acts as a reminder of his bludgeoning talent, it also gave credence to England’s thinking. On this evidence, he is every inch the destructive No.4 to balance out their batting. A quite extraordinary knock that culminated in one over from Hendricks being plundered for 28.

^{Tom Curran endured a difficult day for England}

England’s bowling conundrum

By their own admission, England faced two central quandaries coming into this series: the make-up of a loaded batting line-up and the balance of their bowling attack. Most of the names within those issues are settled certs. On the bowling front, the battle seems to centre around two conundrums: Sam Curran or Moeen Ali, Tom Curran or Mark Wood.

On this occasion – on a tired, slow surface, Morgan plumped for the Curran brothers, which meant leaving out Moeen and Wood. As England went about their work, it was difficult to be totally convinced. It meant that they missed the option of Moeen stealing an over in the powerplay and – on a pitch that offered assistance to the slower bowlers – it also meant that Rashid was the solitary spin option.

Sam Curran was excellent, however, varying his speeds and lengths with every single delivery, picking up the wickets of Bavuma, du Plessis and Heinrich Klaasen.

Morgan had praised him in the build-up, talking up his increased confidence on the back of a fine IPL.

“He was certainly thrown into all sorts of circumstances and had all sorts of challenges but came out the other side glowing, which is great and very difficult to do in a side that really didn’t compete at all. He’s grown a huge amount in confidence,” he said.

Morgan added: “We are playing what we think is our best eleven to beat South Africa here and now. I also think, looking ahead to the World Cup, that we will need the option of two spinners. But also, if we have the luxury of two all-rounders in the side in Ben (Stokes) and Sam, that’s huge.”

Here, Stokes wasn’t called upon with the ball. But Chris Jordan was well short of his best, while Tom Curran was picked off with ease. With Jofra Archer for company, England effectively had three death options but felt an option light through the middle.

As Morgan stressed beforehand, this series – and much of the next year – is about settling on a formula ahead of the T20 World Cup. “It’s more important that we get their roles right and they feel comfortable within that,” he said on Wednesday.

The first 20 overs of this white-ball tour will have left him with plenty to consider.

^{Jonny Bairstow led England's fightback from a poor start}

Faf benefits from franchise form

Without the pressures of captaincy, Faf du Plessis looked in tremendous touch for his 58. After a slow start and the loss in the first over of Temba Bavuma, it was his takedown of Tom Curran that flicked the switch for South Africa; he hammered 24 off the fifth over of the match, almost doubling the home side’s score in the process.

It was the knock of a player coming into this series on the back of regular, high quality T20 cricket; after a decent personal campaign in amongst Chennai Super Kings’ IPL struggles, he joined Peshawar Zalmi for the end of the Pakistan Super League, before strolling out at Newlands to make hay.

A half century for Adil Rashid

A T20I career that began with the infamy of England’s defeat at Lord’s against the Netherlands has reached its half century 11 years on.

It has been quite a journey for the leg-spinner – a precocious talent who, after the year of his debut, had to wait six years before his next opportunity in international cricket, returning only in the aftermath of the 2015 World Cup humiliation, when Eoin Morgan picked up the reins amid the rubble of an abject campaign.

As much as Morgan has changed English cricket since then, so too has Rashid. In the intervening period between 2009 and 2015 – when Rashid disappeared from the international stage, only Scott Borthwick was selected as a specialist wrist-spinner for England, and only then for two ODIs and a T20I.

Rashid’s impact, therefore, has come in altering a national feeling towards a fascinating art. The clamour of disappointment at the absences of both Mason Crane and Matt Parkinson from this touring party as back-up is evidence of that, as is the continued frustration on the impasse around Rashid’s future as a potential Test cricketer.

In the white-ball game, no longer does English cricket talk of Warne. Instead, the next generation is bidding to fill Rashid’s boots, not that the 32-year-old is on his way out. Rather, the opposite. After talk of a dodgy shoulder hampering him during last summer’s World Cup, he looked in tremendous rhythm through series against Australia and Pakistan. He followed that up on this landmark appearance, going wicketless but with more than a hint of majestic control.

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