Middle-order role clarity will come with enough game time, believes Cummins

Australia vice-captain Pat Cummins is confident his team has the right players and right plans in place to address its middle-order bugbear in T20Is. He has stressed that it is now about giving each player enough opportunities to succeed in that role. One of the major changes in the side during the opening T20I was the recall of Marcus Stoinis, who has been out of favour in the format for more than a year. He, along with, Alex Carey, has been earmarked to don the finisher's role.

Stoinis did well as an opener for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League but was tried out in the middle order in the 50-over format soon after Justin Langer took charge of the side. However, the big-hitting all-rounder's inability to rotate the strike easily led to his non-inclusion in the 2019 World Cup, following which he didn't return to the side till the ongoing series.

Stoinis, who was preferred ahead of Mitchell Marsh, didn't get a chance to bowl in the Southampton T20I but did get an opportunity to close the game for Australia after they had suffered a brief collapse. Needing 15 runs off the last over, Stoinis couldn't close out the game, despite remaining unbeaten on an 18-ball 23 as Australia lost by 3 runs.

Even as he hit a six and a few twos, he struggled with his timing for most parts of his stay, including the last delivery where he needed a boundary to level scores or a six to help the side to a win. As a result, what seemed like a comfortable chase with the required rate being less than seven in the last seven overs, Australia fluffed their opportunity to go one up in the series.

However, Cummins believes that all the middle-order players will get enough opportunities to cement their places in their respective roles. "I think we're pretty happy with our combination, it's worked for us over the last couple of years in T20 cricket, so it's just about slotting those guys into those roles consistently. I'd say that's more than likely going to happen.

"It's something we've spoken about for exactly that reason. They're all the best players when they go back for domestic comps and you could argue that middle-order role is one of the hardest in any cricket team. That's what we've identified - that we've got to try and give guys a go in that - because someone like MS Dhoni was best in the world at it because he'd played 300 or 400 ODI games. And I think you saw this week during the practice games we gave a lot of guys a go in that and we know it's not going to happen overnight.

"That's been a common theme that the selectors and Finchy have spoken about - we'll identify roles and give them a long run in that. I think we've got the right squad, the right players, it's just about trying to get plenty of games into everyone now."