Lancashire trio Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and Luke Wood are all in the England squad for the tournament taking place in India and Sri Lanka
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup begins on Saturday morning when the Netherlands take on Pakistan at 5:30am.
England begin their campaign against Nepal at 9:30am on Sunday.
They are coming off the back of an impressive T20I 3-0 sweep of Sri Lanka in the last of their warm up fixtures before the World Cup.
Salt was due to play the third T20 on Tuesday but was withdrawn after suffering a back spasm in the warm-ups for Ben Duckett.
Both Buttler and Wood featured in a low scoring comeback win, the former taking a great diving catch when England’s chances were thinning.
Salt’s strike rate in international cricket is 169.50, still under Abhishek Sharma (The current No.1 ranked T20 batter) but comfortably second best.
He has scored the most runs when opening in the format since the beginning of 2023, nearly 500 more than second placed Faf Du Plessis.
Buttler became England’s leading all time appearance maker in the second T20 against Sri Lanka, representing his stalwart status in England’s white ball squad for the last 15 years.
Salt and Buttler form the destructive opening partnership that England fans have been so accustomed to seeing in recent years.
Luke Wood’s place in England’s strongest XI is not as secure as it is for Salt and Buttler, but he is sure to get a chance with Jofra Archer’s fitness needing to be managed.
Brook’s first international tournament as captain
Harry Brook took over the white ball captaincy last year, and his side have stuck to a simple formula.
A deep batting line-up and spin heavy attack is likely to continue to be the go-to on the Indian and Sri Lankan pitches.
England roared to 304-2 against South Africa in September in England’s standout performance under Brook, Salt scoring 141*.
They have won ten of their last 11 completed games leading into Sunday’s game against Nepal in Mumbai.
Even that loss was a reduced over match in Cardiff due to rain, where England had five overs for their chase.
England will play Nepal, West Indies, Scotland and Italy in the group stage, and are seeded to play Sri Lanka in the second round.
Scotland were a late replacement for Bangladesh, after the International Cricket Council (ICC) refused their request to play their fixtures in Sri Lanka rather than India due to safety concerns.
It is a mainly youthful England side who will be looking to bring the positive feeling back to English cricket after another disappointing Ashes down under.
They are the only team to have reached at least the semi-finals of the last four World Cups, and one of three to have won it twice.
They’ll be looking to make an early statement on Sunday morning, looking to build confidence with sterner tests to come.
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