GEORGE DOBELL: The Lancashire local will slot into the middle order for the second one-day international against South Africa at Old Trafford in the knowledge he is first choice in the XI
Phil Salt looks set to win the first opportunity to try to fill the sizeable shoes left in the England ODI side by the retirement of Ben Stokes.
While Salt has enjoyed an outstanding start to his ODI career – he is averaging 58.66 after six outings– he has opened the batting in each of those games.
With Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy established as England's opening pair and Joe Root secure at No.3, the Lancashire keeper-batter will be obliged to fit into a middle-order role somewhere between No. 4 and No. 6 for the second match of the series against South Africa at Old Trafford.
The impression given at training was that Moeen Ali would bat at No.4. He had a long net and timed the ball particularly sweetly. He has looked in good touch in recent weeks without the scores to necessarily show for it and could well win an opportunity higher up the order. With Jos Buttler also likely to bat in the top five, it seems Salt could bat at No.6.
If so, he will have to show some adaptability. He has never batted below No.5 in his 22 List A matches – only once outside the top three – but is confident he has the skills to adapt and is happy to simply be given an opportunity. He has also batted in the middle-order in T20I cricket.
"I'm very aware that the best players in the world can bat anywhere," Salt said. "You see that looking around the top domestic leagues. The best players are the ones that can adapt, improvise and find different ways of getting the job done from all situations.
"To be quite honest with you, I've just got to take this opportunity now. I've been on the fringes for a while. And I want to get in there and show people what I can do.
Salt has spent much of his England career covering for absences (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
"Wherever my opportunity comes, that's where it comes. I think I'm slotting in wherever."
It's a special game for Salt for several other reasons. For one thing, as a boyhood Lancashire supporter who joined the club ahead of this season, it is his first international match at a venue which is special for him. And for another, it is his first ODI as a first-choice player and not as part of a second-string unit.
And he has no complaints about the decision not to break up the prolific – if currently somewhat misfiring – opening partnership between Bairstow and Roy.
"It's my first time being in around it with the full-strength squad," he said. "So that's exciting.
"And this is the ground where I watched my first game of cricket, back when I was eight or nine. It was Andrew Flintoff's testimonial match.
"Yes, I take confidence from my performances against Holland. Holland, West Indies, Pakistan. You know, there's all sorts of places have proven to people and proven to myself that I can do it. So it's a case of going out there and doing it again.
"But it is the best opening partnership in 50-over cricket. There's no doubt about that. Look at the numbers and the way they play and the way they've changed how the game is played. There's a lot of people in international cricket that want to copy them and follow how they play. So in my opinion, they've set the bar for a good few years now.
Rehan Ahmed attended England training in Manchester (Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)
"So whenever you get an opportunity to play for England - we're world champions in this format - you have to take it with both hands. And that's about how complicated it gets in my mind.
"I've not batted in the middle-order much in the last few years. But it's about adapting. It's about seeing a game that's in front of you and going about it your own way. If I'd have opened, I could still be batting in the 20th over, so it's not too different."
Rehan Ahmed was also at training. The 17-year Leicestershire leg-spinner hasn't been called into the squad but, such is his promise, he was invited to familiarise himself with the team, watch the way they train and pick the brains of Adil Rashid, in particular.
It's not the first time he has appeared at England training. In 2016, aged just 11, he dismissed Ben Stokes and Alastair Cook in the Lord's nets and was invited back to gain experience against the touring sides. For several years, the media were asked not to mention him as it was feared it could burden him with unhelpful expectations.
Those days are gone. He played in every one of Leicestershire's Vitality Blast T20 matches this season and also made his LV= Insurance County Championship debut. There are no guarantees with young players, but it would be no surprise if he was back, as a full member of this squad, in the not-so-distant future.
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