Should Buttler bat up the order? Worries over Archer?

4 hours ago 1

England go into their ICC Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan on Wednesday on the precipice of an early elimination, were they to follow up their opening loss to Australia with another defeat.

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Despite an encouraging England batting display - in which Ben Duckett struck 165 - Australia chased down an ICC tournament-record 352 to win on Saturday, with Josh Inglis finishing on 120 not out.

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Highlights of England up against Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy in Lahore

England's bowling attack struggled, with Brydon Carse's seven overs costing 69 runs as he struggled with the reoccurrence of a toe injury that has since ruled him out of the rest of the competition, while Archer (1-82) had numerous spells off the field with cramp before bowling an expensive final five overs.

Archer, a star performer in England's 2019 50-over World Cup win, has spent much of the subsequent six years on the sidelines due to a persistent elbow injury and a stress fracture to his back suffered in 2022.

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"I was also a bit worried looking at Jofra when he came back on," Michael Atherton said on the latest Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.

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"You've got a guy who has had a lot of time away from cricket, so you have to give him time to find his best form again, but Simon Doull did a bit of analysis on the tele on differences between his action in 2019 and now.

"Jofra pre-injury had a high arm and that snap of the wrist [through his bowling action], and it didn't quite look like that to me.

"He got punished - 49 runs from his final five overs - at a crucial moment, when Jos Buttler threw him the ball in the hope of closing the game out."

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Jofra Archer missed a catch at deep midwicket in a nightmare spell for the fast bowler

Should Buttler be batting higher up the order?

Fellow former England captain, Nasser Hussain, added on the podcast that he'd like to see a promotion back up the order for Buttler against Afghanistan.

Buttler came in at No 6 against Australia, in the 35th over, and scored 23 off 21 balls, with Jamie Smith having been pushed up to No 3.

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On the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton discuss whether or not skipper Jos Buttler should be higher up the batting order for England during the Champions Trophy

"I would have him up the order," Hussain said. "If he gets in - at three, or four - Buttler, at his best, could go on and get 150.

"He could play the sort of innings that Inglis did because he's so talented.

"If, on a pitch like that [in Lahore], England's best white-ball player of all time is sitting and watching nearly 40 overs of cricket from the pavilion, as an opposition captain I'm enjoying that.

"And for Jos as skipper, this is a defining tournament. If they don't qualify through the group stage here, he could well lose his job.

"For that reason, if I'm Jos I'm thinking, 'my job is hanging on the line here, I need to have a massive impact on this game, on this tournament right now'.

"England see it differently; they see him as their finisher."

What's next?

In Group B, England are next in action on Wednesday when they face Afghanistan, also in Lahore - live on Sky Sports Cricket from 8.30am, ahead of play starting at 9am UK time.

Australia face South Africa in Rawalpindi a day earlier on Tuesday - at the same time, live on Sky Sports Cricket.