England managed to hold their nerve in their opening ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 fixture against Nepal with a four-run win, and will be keen to continue their winning run against the West Indies. Nasser Hussain and West Indies legend Ian Bishop analysed England’s T20 team for the tournament and the importance of the competition for Brendon McCullum’s leadership group.
Nasser Hussain shared his thoughts on England in the tournament:
“I think England are in a good place, actually. Obviously, winners in 2022, losing semi-finalists in 2024. There is a new Captain and Coach in Harry Brook and Brendon McCullum. Jos Buttler and Phil Salt at the top of the order are very dynamic. Salt has found a lot of form at the top in this format and has been smashing it everywhere. And Jos Buttler is just world-class, England’s greatest-ever white-ball player. They have Jofra Archer, who has come back well from injury, so he will be lethal with the new ball. Sam Curran’s re-emergence as a white-ball cricketer, having been left out for quite some time, has been important. In this part of the world, you’re going to need a quality spinner, and they’ve got that in Adil Rashid. They have a lot of players who play IPL cricket, so they are used to the grounds and the conditions. So, I think they’re in a really good place. And when you have McCullum as your Coach and Harry Brook as Captain, they will play one way. They will play attacking, dynamic cricket. Whether they can do it in a knockout game, we’ll wait and see. But they definitely have the players and the mindset.”
On the Bazball mindset and importance of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 for England’s leadership:
“The mindset, as everyone has seen, the Bazball mindset, gets spoken about so much. The challenge, obviously, for this England side is that World Cups often follow the Ashes. And I know, as an England Captain, you can go there a bit drained after an Ashes battle, in my case, an Ashes hammering. So, McCullum, who was at the helm of just the Test side, has now been given everything by Rob Key. Some feel that’s too much for a modern coach, to do everything. So, McCullum’s energy levels, and Harry Brook’s energy levels, having been part of the Ashes, have to be maintained going into the tournament. For Rob Key and for this regime, who haven’t done well in white-ball tournaments of late, this is a very important tournament for England’s management and setup, to see exactly where English cricket is.”
Ian Bishop spoke about how dangerous the England team can be:
“We’ve seen across franchise cricket that experience counts for a lot. And sometimes, we’re still trying to work out whether this is an old man’s game or a young man’s game. England are one of the teams that scare me. I’ve said Australia scare me, England scare me as well, because they’ve got so much power. Their philosophy, starting with Harry Brook, is very similar, boundary and six-hunting quite often. Jofra Archer will bring some much-needed cutting edge to that England line-up. And the experience you talk about, for example with Adil Rashid, who is still playing very, very well. Jacob Bethell is another one who can throw his name into the mix. They are scoring, utilising areas that traditionally have not yielded runs for many teams, which is part of why they scare me.”
