“He’s probably the best partner I’ve batted with in white-ball cricket,” Salt said of his partner in powerplay. “We did it together in SA20 and we’ve done it this summer for England against Ireland.
“Opening the batting, sometimes you have different partners, you give them the strike early on and they’re just focused on boundaries but he’s good at communicating. We have an understanding where it’s not just about getting a flyer by hitting a boundary but rotating strike.”
You could be forgiven for assuming Salt didn’t care about singles. In 11 of his 16 ODI innings for England his strike rate has been above 130. And in his last five knocks it has never dropped below it.
“You asked how I feel my international career has gone so far,” Salt said. “I feel like at times I’ve been guilty of pushing the accelerator a little bit too hard because I know the lads behind me are such good players and we bat so deep, but maybe I haven’t done myself justice when I’ve had those starts, and I’ve earned the right to sort of go on, but it’s a learning curve.”
The problem for Salt is his role is one of high-risk and high-reward, where the risk has now increased. Yes, he has been part of England’s set-up for over two years and even has a T20 World Cup medal to his name, but the series against New Zealand in September saw him lose his spot as the back-up T20 opener to Jacks, and in an ODI capacity, the return of Bairstow will mean there is only space for one of England’s new white-ball wannabes.
The pressure on this group of players is different to what it was before. In years gone by, they knew they were merely keeping a shirt warm until the return of whatever legend they were borrowing it from. But now, the chance to make the spot their own exists and there is something lose.
“I feel like we’ve not quite put a full game together yet and I think it would be good to do it here now we understand the conditions a little bit better”
Phil Salt
“That’s elite sport,” Salt said of his and Jacks’ status as friends and rivals. “I don’t really think too much along those lines, but I’m sure if Jonny comes back, there will have to be some sort of movement.
“I think it’s a double-edged sword. You know, there’s been times I’ve felt like I could have done anything and still not got in the team, but I feel like they’ve showed those lads loyalty for so long and that’s why they’ve got such good results out of them. So it’s good to know that’s where the management sit on that one.”
The question is, if there’s only room for one of Salt or Jacks. Who gets the loyalty?
The direct comparison between the two is easy to make. Both are cut from the same cricketing cloth, but as people they differ. Where Jacks has spoken publicly of his disappointment at not receiving a central contract or even a call to let him know, Salt was nonplussed at being asked: “I don’t feel like they needed to tell someone who didn’t have a contract they’ve not got a contract.
“I didn’t really mind the whole stuff with the contracts because I still have that freedom to decide where I want to go and what I want to do. And there’s plenty of opportunities out there at the moment. So that was neither here nor there for me.”
Nevertheless, the final ODI of the series marks an opportunity for Salt to stamp his authority not just on the opening stage of the innings but the match as a whole. And being back in Barbados, an island where he spent much of his childhood, makes the opportunity particularly special. Both from an emotional perspective of being back home, but also a pragmatic one where the surfaces on show are familiar to a lad whose cricketing journey began in these parts.
“I love it,” Salt reflected on the chance to play in the country he once called home. “It’s a very special place for me. I love being here and playing here.
“It’s not quite [just] swinging from early on. I love it when you put it like that. I feel like I have different things in my game which mean on wickets like this, I might get off to a flyer a little bit quicker like hitting on top of the bounce through the off side. Jacksy’s slightly more leg side than me.
“It’s quite exciting where the series is at, one-all going into this game. I feel like we’ve not quite put a full game together yet and I think it would be good to do it here now we understand the conditions a little bit better.”
Cameron Ponsonby is a freelance cricket writer in London. @cameronponsonby
