Kieswetter and Lumb win World Twenty20 places
England have placed their faith in Craig Kieswetter as the sole wicketkeeper/batsman in their 15-man squad for this year’s World Twenty20, with Matt Prior omitted from the final squad.
The South African-born Kieswetter put England to the sword in a Twenty20 tour match playing for the England Lions, and just days after he qualified as an England player earned a call-up to the One-Day international team.
Geoff Miller, England national selector, said Prior “very much remains in the England set-up and a part of our plans” despite his omission from the squad for the Caribbean. No doubt the 28-year-old can count himself among the unluckiest players to be culled from the preliminary 30-man squad.
The ECB has simply decided that in the shortest form of the game, they’d prefer the hard-hitting brand of cricket that Kieswetter brings to the team over Prior’s steadier middle-order accumulation of runs. Still, one has to wonder whether England wouldn’t have been better served by including both men in the squad to at least provide the option of sharing the glove work.
Kieswetter is joined in the squad by uncapped Hampshire batsman Michael Lumb who has been opening the batting for the Rajasthan Royals in the current IPL season.
Miller said of Lumb’s selection that he has “consistently performed well in limited-overs cricket for Hampshire and has also impressed during his time in the IPL and with the England Lions”, and that the left-handed batsman “adds aggression to our batting”.
Lumb also adds yet another South African-born player to the ranks of an England side that is at risk of looking like a Proteas A team, or an international XI with the inclusion of former Ireland player Eoin Morgan, although the omission of Prior reduces the “South African” contingent by one player. Michael may have an English pedigree – he’s the son of former Yorkshire opener Richard Lumb – but played much of his junior cricket in South Africa.
Ravi Bopara and Michael Yardy are two who have been given another chance in the England line-up, with Miller saying both players have earned their recalls “after going away and working hard on their cricket with excellent results”.
Yardy offers England a third spinning option alongside Graeme Swann and James Tredwell, and on face value that might just be one slow bowler too many in the squad, although to be fair the pitches in the West Indies are predicted to favour the slower bowlers. Still, while Swann is a walk-up start in the XI, it’s hard to see both Yardy and Tredwell getting a game in the competition.
And the inclusion of both players has potentially robbed Paul Collingwood’s team of an additional batting option. Whether a lack of batting depth is exposed if and when Kevin Pietersen flies home to attend the birth of his first child remains to be seen, but England can realistically expect to be without the dynamic batsman at some point in the World Twenty20, and there needs to be a contingency plan for that turn of events.
Certainly it’s a squad rich in bowling options - Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Ryan Sidebottom and Ajmal Shahzad take care of the pace responsibilities – but whether the batting stacks up is the big question mark hanging over the side.
To that end, Prior might have added some value to the 15-man squad in place of either Yardy or Tredwell. There’s no reason why Prior and Kieswetter couldn’t both be included in the XI if the situation demanded, i.e. during Pietersen’s potential absence, as the latter could hold his place in the side on batting alone.
The ECB think they’ve got the right mix though, with Miller stating: “We believe we’ve picked a balanced squad that can meet the needs of the Twenty20 format - aggressive batting with variation and strength in depth and various bowling options that accommodate the conditions and surfaces in the West Indies.”
The final judgement will be made when the results are in.
The England World Twenty20 squad is: Paul Collingwood (capt), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Michael Lumb, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Ajmal Shahzad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.
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