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Former England captain Nasser Hussain has backed the national team to replicate their 2010 T20 World Cup triumph in the ongoing edition in Australia. However, Hussain believes England could have a selection headache owing to having several star middle-order batters in their ranks.
Led by Jos Buttler, England will start the T20 World Cup 2022 as one of the firm favorites to lift the trophy. They were also one of the most dominant teams in the previous edition before losing to New Zealand in the semi-finals.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Hussain stated that England have all the bases covered, but face a selection conundrum regarding their middle order. He wrote:
"England have got a fantastic chance. They have every base covered, with so much depth, and their only issues seem to be over who to leave out. If they want to leave out a batter - and I wouldn't if I were them - will it be Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, or even Ben Stokes?"
The the 54-year-old highlighted that he would play all of the batters, with Liam Livingstone coming in at No. 7. He explained:
"I would pick all the batters, which probably means playing Livingstone at seven. In the early days of T20, the stats told you it was a position hardly worth worrying about because the No. 7 faced so few balls.
"But having batting depth means England can go ballistic all the way through. They have a safety valve, with a batter at seven, of a very long middle order."
Livingstone, who has missed some of England's recent games due to an ankle injury, returned to action in the warm-up fixture against Pakistan in Brisbane on Monday, October 17. The batting all-rounder hit 28 off 16 balls as England chased down 161 comfortably.
"There are no such issues at the top of the order" - Nasser Hussain
Hussain reflected that England have a solid top order, with Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, and Dawid Malan being proven performers in T20 cricket. He added:
"There are no such issues at the top of the order where Jos Buttler is one of the best ever to play the white-ball game and Alex Hales is hugely experienced and has done exceptionally well in Australian conditions. After them, comes Dawid Malan, who was imperious in the first warm-up match in Canberra last week."
Although England suffered series losses to India and South Africa in the home summer, they bounced back to beat Pakistan and Australia in away rubbers. Buttler and Co. will open their T20 World Cup campaign against Afghanistan in Perth on Saturday, October 22.
