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An Established T20I Batter, Phil Salt Is Yet To Learn To Live With ODIs

Bhargav Dixit

Phil Salt is having a tough time (Source: AP Photos)Phil Salt is having a tough time (Source: AP Photos)

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Since scoring his last ODI half-century, England opening batter Phil Salt has managed 122 runs at an average and strike rate of 20.33 and 120.79 respectively across six innings. That Salt hasn’t been able to face more than 30 balls even once this year is one of the reasons behind England’s current woes.

In sooth, this has been the reality of Salt’s ODI career. Out of his 31 innings thus far, the right-handed batter has faced more than 30 deliveries only five times.

Since the Englishman's ODI debut, a total of 69 top-order batters have scored at least 500 runs in the format. In this list, Salt’s average of 31.87 finds him at the 47th spot. Among players representing Full Member nations, only seven are below Salt. His strike rate of 114.75, however, is the fourth-best.

Phil Salt Yet To Make Peace With ODI Cricket

To tell the truth, strike rate is the 28-year-old player’s claim to fame. For all English batters who have scored at least 100 runs in T20Is, Salt’s strike rate of 164.32 is the highest. In point of fact, he is the only English batter to strike in excess of 150.

Therefore, getting to play ODIs on the back of such outstanding numbers isn’t astonishing by any means. Adjusting to the tempo of ODIs, on the contrary, requires a different skillset in spite of a false narrative which keeps both the white-ball formats in the same bracket. In the middle of three formats at the highest level, ODIs are yet to stake claim on specialists. As a result, depending on requirements, teams bring specialists from the other two formats to ODIs.

Notwithstanding the entertainment factor which surrounds a batter like Salt, personal victory would lie in the realization that an ODI strike rate of 100 has it in it to power the team to a victory more often than not. In a bid to be audacious by coming across as a daredevil with the bat in hand, there’s no point in diminishing post an unproductive glimpse of adventure.

Speaking particularly of top-order English batters with at least 500 ODI runs to their name, Salt’s average puts him on the 27th spot. Only former all-rounder Moeen Ali, a makeshift top-order batter, is below Salt among players from the last decade. As far as those with a strike rate of over 100 are concerned, while the likes of Ben Duckett and Jonny Bairstow average around 45, Jason Roy averages almost 40.

The point here is that Salt will put an end to severe criticism if he manages to increase his average by 10 points at the cost of decreasing his strike rate by the same number. With Duckett, his opening partner, already doing the same, Salt doesn’t need to look elsewhere for inspiration.