England go into today’s Twenty20 decider against South Africa at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl needing victory to allow Jos Buttler to escape his first home summer as white-ball captain with a series win.
But he also knows there are questions ahead of the T20 World Cup which starts in October — and he must use a seven-match series in Pakistan and a three-match series in Australia to answer them.
Among them is the form of Jason Roy, who for most of his career has provided England with turbo-charged starts. But he has looked hopelessly out of touch this summer, scraping together 59 runs in five innings with a strike-rate of 73 — that’s well below T20’s bare minimum of 100.