England can now win this World Cup – if Archer and Buttler deliver

Matchwinners: England could yet lift the trophy if Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler hit their levels - Gareth Copley/Getty Images

The most important thing is to get through in the first stage of a Twenty20 World Cup. England haven’t been at their best in West Indies so far, but they’ve done that. Now it all starts again in the Super Eight.

It wouldn’t surprise me if England won the tournament. It’s reminded me very much of the last T20 World Cup in Australia 18 months ago. England lost to Ireland then and had a horrible week where we all worried that they would be going out – but they put it behind them, won four games in a row and lifted the title. That tournament, I reckon they played one pure game – the semi-final against India – but they still did enough.

England are a very dangerous team. My worry is that they can play incredibly well, but they can produce a performance which is very average. They’ve become a team that’s quite inconsistent, which is not what we’re used to from the white ball team.

In the Super Eight, they’re in what people would term the easier of the groups, which is no respect disrespect in the United States. But you would expect the three major teams to win against them. So it comes down to the two big games against South Africa and West Indies – England will have to win at least one. It’s not the worst position to be in at all.

To get to the semi-finals and even further, England need two players at their best. Jofra Archer is hugely important for England. He’s that bowler who can bowl every over of the 20, and his return has been very good so far.

And then Jos Buttler has got to find form. The skipper needs to find a bit of rhythm with the bat. Jos is that kind of player that can win a game on his own. England are going to need him.

In the last two games, England have rectified their big mistake at the start of the World Cup. How England didn’t play Reece Topley for the first two matches is beyond me. He bowls that first over, swinging the new ball as a left-armer. That allows Jofra Archer to bowl the second over, or you can bowl the spinner second over and Jofra comes on later in the Powerplay.

I also liked England’s change in team formation against Scotland, bringing in Sam Curran. He’s the T20 expert; he’s got all the tools. A man who bats and bowls left-handed is so valuable – can bowl in the different phases of an innings, can smash the ball and is an excellent fielder too. His Indian Premier League form has not been fantastic, but he’s captain of Punjab. So it was good to see him back in the side.

I thought Will Jacks was a little bit unlucky to be left out: he’s a really dynamic talent, his striking ability is up there with the best and he has just scored an IPL century. But I do like Harry Brook at four I just think he’s a class player. He is too good to be hidden at number five.

It must have been a close call between Jacks and Jonny Bairstow. The one thing I’d say about Jonny, you could see on Saturday, I know it’s against Namibia, but you could see his eyes, he has that kind of mentality, that kind of fighting spirit. So I can kind of guess why they’ve gone with Jonny. They’ve gone with the experience of what he’s delivered in the past and how dangerous he can be.

I understood why they went with Chris Jordan over Mark Wood in a shortened game. But now Wood should come back in for Jordan. You need your best bowlers playing. I just like Wood’s ability to get wickets.

I know Jordan’s there to bowl down the back end. But they’ve got so many bowling options with the balance that they played yesterday – Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone didn’t even bowl. With Wood to take wickets in the middle you could use Jofra more at the death.

Spin’s going to play a big part in the last stages of the tournament, as we play on some used pitches, especially in the day games. Adil Rashid will become more and more important by the game. If I was playing England, I’d make sure that there was a great player of spin to target Rashid in the seventh over, which he always seems to bowl. Hit Rashid out the attack and you’d mess with England’s plans.

The crucial question is going to be how England play spin. England have got very good players of spin but they also need to be smart. We’ve seen India use Rishabh Pant at number three. So I’d like to see Moeen Ali at number three, to break up the right-handers. If there’s a short boundary to target, or the wind’s a factor, you want a left and right hand combination out there, especially as West Indies will pick two left-arm spinners.

There’s been a lot of talk about the future of the head coach, but I think there’s too much focus upon Matthew Mott. They’re a collective group of white-ball specialist players who have won World Cups and dominated, yet everyone seems to point the finger at Mott. He’s got two more years that he’s under contract for.

There’s a lot of talk going on that could be a distraction – even things like The Hundred sell-off. There’s a lot of stuff going on off the field in English cricket, and I don’t think you can point the finger at just one person just to say, ‘Oh, that one person goes, we’re suddenly going to get it right.’ And remember, Mott has already won one the T20 World Cup with England.

This is going to be the hardest T20 World Cup to win. Usually, at this stage of the tournament, you’re looking at two or three teams realistically that can win the competition. This time, I’d say there’s about six.

The Aussies are the only team that have looked like a real high quality T20 side so far. In these conditions, India, West Indies and Afghanistan can all win it too. South Africa have got enough talent too, but you always worry that there’s something not quite right with their mentality in tournaments. England know how to win World Cups. If they can get it right, England can win another.

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