England to benefit from IPL experience?

England will be bolstered with a squad which includes eight players who played in the 2018 Indian Premier League for the four International T20s against Australia and India.

Eoin Morgan’s England play Australia at Edgbaston on Wednesday before three further Vitality IT20 Blast games against India next week knowing they have more experience than ever before.

With England players providing fleeting appearances in the IPL over recent seasons, 2018 saw an influx of English talent with eight of those players selected in the squad for the upcoming IT20s.

Jos Buttler was one of the stand out performers in this year’s IPL before he had to return for England’s Test series against Pakistan. Featuring for the Rajasthan Royals, the hard-hitting wicket-keeper batsman scored the sixth most runs in the tournament where he also equalled the IPL record of five consecutive fifties.

It’s Buttler who currently leads the way in the Overall PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings for England this summer with 124.27 MVP points and will be optimistic of using the four Vitality IT20 fixtures as a way to extend his lead at the top.

Buttler’s IPL teammate Ben Stokes has still not recovered from his hamstring injury that ruled him out of England’s second Test against Pakistan as well as the five-match ODI series against Australia, so will only be with the squad to continue his rehabilitation.

Despite finishing top of the winter T20I MVP Rankings, Dawid Malan is a surprise omission from the squad for the summer schedule.

Malan scored 14 more MVP points than any other England player over the winter period and has scored four half-centuries in five T20I appearances, averaging 50.

The MVP formula is designed to identify the match-winners and key influencers of matches.

A more rigorous analysis of player performances than traditional batting and bowling averages, points are accrued for all runs scored and wickets taken, these are then adjusted within the context of the match.

Catches, run-outs and stumpings are also accounted for as well as bonus points for Captains and players who are on the victorious side.

Jonny Bairstow comes into the squad for the unlucky Malan after some more devastating performances in the 50-over format. The Yorkshireman is arguably in the form of his life scoring, recently hitting three consecutive centuries and continues to impress at the top of the order where he has formed a formidable partnership with Jason Roy.

Roy has been equally as impressive in the ODI format for England and comes off the back of his debut IPL campaign with Delhi Daredevils.

After captaining his ODI side to a 5-0 whitewash over Australia, Morgan will be hoping for more of the same from his side in the upcoming four IT20s.

Despite only featuring in two of England’s four IT20 over the winter period, Morgan finished second in the MVP Rankings and averaged the most points per game with 14.37.

While the Middlesex batsman will remain in charge on the field, Assistant Coach Paul Farbrace will take over the reins from Trevor Bayliss for the T20s with the squad in great form in white-ball cricket.

Moeen Ali is currently the lead of the ODI MVP Rankings after being the standout bowler of the 5-0 whitewash of Australia and will be looking forward to continuing his formidable partnership with fellow spinner Adil Rashid.

With four IT20s in 12 days, the international white-ball summer then ends with three ODIs against India before five Test Matches against the same opposition which begins on Wednesday August 1.