England cricket carousel goes on for Mott with opener his key World T20 call

England did not linger in Pakistan. Six hours after the last ball of the last match at the Gaddafi Stadium, they were on their way again, some back to London, the rest to Perth where they play Australia on Sunday. Only the head coach, Matthew Mott, and a handful of others stayed behind.

He is part of a group flying on Tuesdaybecause the travel logistics were so tricky that the ECB could not get everyone on one plane. Mott has plenty to get on with in the meantime, picking over the bones of England’s 4-3 victory, England’s first in a T20 series since he took over, and planning their T20 World Cup campaign.

Mott says his big question is who is going to open the batting with Jos Buttler. “I don’t think that’s resolved, which is probably not a bad thing. We’ve got four games before that first World Cup game so there’s still plenty of time. Alex Hales did really well at the start of this series, but Phil Salt really took his opportunities too.”

Hales won England’s first match with a fifty, but his form has fallen away a little since. In his next five innings his top score was 27, although he at least looked a little more fluent in the last two of them.

Salt, on the other hand, scraped together 59 runs in the first five matches, then exploded into life with a brilliant, match-winning unbeaten 88 in the sixth. It was an innings that meant everyone you asked about the game the next day seemed to have decided he was their new favourite player. He was batting well in the seventh match, too, before he was run out.

“He showed all the signs we’re looking for as well,” Mott said. “So there’s a lot of options there. It is a good headache to have. We’re very blessed to have a number of players who can open. I know Jos is incredibly keen