Phil Salt is expected to be given the opportunity to audition for a long-term place in England’s batting order as the team plays their first fixture after Ben Stokes’s retirement from one-day international cricket against South Africa at Old Trafford on Friday.
The Lancashire batter’s six previous 50-over games for England, against Pakistan at home last summer and in the Netherlands last month, have all come in series when for various reasons an understrength side was selected, so being picked on his home ground would represent something of a breakthrough. “It’s my first time being in around it with the full-strength squad, being in the conversation for a place in the XI,” he said. “This is an opportunity for people such as myself, the lads who have been around it and played bits and pieces but not had a solid run as yet, and you’ve got to take it with both hands.
I’ve been on the fringes for a while, and I want to get in there and show people what I can do.” Across his career Salt averages 40.28 in 50-over cricket, but so far for England his average is 58.66 with a strike rate of 132.33.
The sample size is small, but of those who have played at least six times for the country he has by some margin the highest average and the best strike rate.