Champions Trophy: England's strongest starting playing XI

England are one of the strongest teams when it comes to white-ball cricket. They revolutionised the style of play in ODIs since their early ouster in the 2015 World Cup and have stuck to their strategy of going gung ho right from the word go in the format. Even in the upcoming Champions Trophy, they are expected to score big runs with the bat and have the team that can go all the way under the lwadership of Jos Buttler. Here’s their strongest playing XI for Champions Trophy:

Phil Salt and Ben Duckett, two aggressive players, will open the innings for England. Both the players like to take on the bowling attack especially with the fielding restrictions in place and more often than not provide the team with quickfire starts. Joe Root is their best batter and he will bat at number three.

There will be onus on him to play anchor to the aggressive batting line-up making sure they do not collapse in any of the matches. He is also in good form in the lead up to the tournament. Harry Brook, skipper Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell complete England’s middle-order.

All these three players are match winners in their own right and once settled, are very difficult to be dismissed. Liam Livingstone will play the role of a finisher who can tonk the ball with his batting coming mostly in the death overs. Brydon Carse has the ability to bat down the order and with the ball, his short of a length deliveries can cause trouble to the batters.

Jofra Archer and Mark Wood will test the batters with their extreme pace. Even though Saqib Mahmood is part of the squad, England are expected to unleash the pace duo first up with Adil Rashid being the only specialist spinner. For the unversed, England are scheduled to play their opening game of the ICC Champions Trophy against arch-rivals Australia on February 22 at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore.

England’s strongest starting playing XI: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (C & WK), Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood.

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