In these days of horses-for-courses selection policies, it's interesting to see the England ODI and T20 squads for the Sri Lanka series looking so similar. Maybe the ECB wanted to save money by negotiating multiple-night stays with a hotel chain, or just maybe if a player is a fine limited overs cricketer it doesn't matter if it's over 50 or 20 overs. I'd like to think the latter.
There are no gimmicks, either. While Andrew Flintoff is rumoured to be close to a T20 comeback for Lancashire (what as? The clubhouse barman?), Peter Moores have gone for tried and tested performers along with Harry Gurney, who made his international debut against mighty Scotland and took 0-20 in his four overs. At least the Notts seamer offers a left-arm option, seemingly a necessity in T20 where anything which disrupts a batsman's rhythm - if only for a couple of balls - can be a match-winner.
The only differences between the ODI XIV and T20 XIII are that Alastair Cook, James Anderson and Gary Ballance are in the former unit at the expense of Alex Hales and Moeen Ali. Hales I can understand as he is a shadow of his former self in any game which spans more than a few hours. Moeen Ali, on the other hand, is surely a better player in the longer format. His career List A strike rate is a shade under a run a ball, but his spin bowling is a handier option in T20.
I guess the selectors went for Ballance (in more ways than one) for the ODIs as this is more the Yorkshire player's bag, although whether he gets to play is another matter. Michael Carberry may struggle to get his pads on, too, unless there are failures in the early games for Joe Root or Eoin Morgan. Ian Bell and Jos Buttler are certainties, as are Cook (well, he is the captain), Ravi Bopara, sole spinner James Tredwell, Anderson and probably Tim Bresnan. As surmised earlier, Gurney will be tested as a left-hander against Jayawardene, Sangakkara et al, while Chris Jordan may get the nod over Chris Woakes, who had better start practising carrying boxes of drink cartons.
It dosn't matter terribly who is selected for the T20 Eleven; there's only one match to play. Nevertheless, whoever wins will have bragging rights as the countries face the five-match ODI rubber and the Tests to follow. I'd expect Moeen Ali to play as a spinning all-rounder, so it's down to one of Woakes, Carberry and Jordan for the final place, with Gurney looking over his shoulder.
