Former international bowler Steven Finn has backed Reece Topley to play a key part in England’s bid to defend their T20 Cricket World Cup title in the Caribbean.
England scraped through to the Super Eight second stage of the World Cup, this year being co-hosted by the United States and West Indies, having needed to rely on a Scotland loss at the weekend to progress.
But they will now take on their hosts the West Indies on Thursday before matches against South Africa and the United States – the first two of those games in Saint Lucia.
Topley on top
“England are certainly in a better position now than they were 72 hours ago,” Finn told City A.M. from the Caribbean.
“But in the last couple of games they have shown what they are capable of and have shown power with the bat and ball. They’ll take confidence from that.
“I think they’ll have learned from their mistakes against Australia.
“Reece Topley playing was a good move, I like having him opening the bowling and having him to bowl inside that power play because he is a specialist at that and that’s where England struggled against Australia.
“Having watched these last two games they will take a lot of confidence from it. I do think they have a lot of bases covered to be successful out here: they’ve got that pace – left-arm swing has been really potent in this tournament which is why I think we will see Topley play a majority of games from here on in – and they have that power in the batting line-up and hit sixes.”
England remain among the favourites for the T20 Cricket World Cup alongside India, Australia and South Africa.
Ducks in a row
Finn, 35, speaking on behalf of BetVictor, backed the West Indies and South Africa pre-tournament, but insists England can go all the way.
He also stated how important the impact of seamer Jofra Archer could be going forward with the ball and how strong England’s batting depth is with the likes of Phil Salt, Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook helping Matthew Mott’s side pile on runs in the Caribbean when they needed to.
If they get through the Super Eight, they’ll play one of India, Australia, Afghanistan or Bangladesh in the semi-finals and the final.
“England have their ducks in a row, they have looked rusty but they have polished up which will give them confidence,” Finn, who played 21 T20 internationals for England, added.
“It is about peaking at the right time.
“This is the time when you want to be hitting your straps, you don’t want to be flying out of the blocks. If you look at the teams who have won the World Cup in the last 10-15 years, they have not come flying out of the blocks.
“I don’t think teams ever sustain that. They just need to go out there and perform.”