Phil Salt is optimistic Brendon McCullum can get one of the best out of him when the England Test head coach also assumes control of the white-ball sides.
The parallels between them as ultra-aggressive opening batter-wicketkeepers were remarked upon during Salt’s stint this yr with Kolkata Knight Riders, the Indian Premier League franchise McCullum previously played for and coached.
Salt’s astronomical strike-rates in each ODIs and T20s are amongst the best of all-time although consistency, especially within the 50-over format, has proved elusive.
Unlocking his full potential
But he believes his full potential may very well be unlocked when he gets to experience the Bazball approach, with McCullum set to take charge of all three England men’s teams from January.
“I actually do hope so,” Salt told the Cricket Paper. “I’ve heard so many good things about Baz from people in franchise cricket and the Test boys – they’ll’t speak highly enough of him.
“I’m really excited to work with him and see what he’s got for me. After I was on the IPL with KKR, everybody kept saying ‘McCullum this, McCullum that, you’re like this, he’s like that’.”
Salt has already been in dialogue with McCullum, having been mentioned as a contender to tackle wicketkeeper-batter duties firstly of the English summer, a position which went to Jamie Smith.
While Smith has excelled within the role, Salt is hopeful he has not missed the boat, even when being so in demand on the T20 franchise circuit leaves little room within the calendar to reinforce his Test credentials.
“I had a chat with Baz and he said my time will come and it would be plenty of fun when it happens,” Salt, who averaged in excess of 40 within the 2022 and 2023 County Championship, said.
“When you’ve had that conversation, your next thing to do is to indicate them something they’ve not seen and find a bit block of red-ball to go bang out the quantity of runs.
“The tricky thing for me is the schedule. But hopefully in the long run that door just isn’t shut. You should play all of the cricket you may in an England shirt.”
Salt’s Test Ambitions
Salt could push his Test claims on the white-ball tour of the West Indies starting on Thursday with the primary of three ODIs in Antigua, where he could open the batting alongside Michael Pepper in an excellent union for headline writers.
The 28-year-old is desperate to draw a line under a 3-2 defeat by Australia last month after averaging 19.2, albeit on tricky end-of-summer pitches aiding all-time greats Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
“If it gets harder than that, I’d prefer to see it,” Salt said with a smile. “But I knew I could have done higher.”
Salt had been on an exclusive weight loss plan of T20s this yr up until those five ODIs and he accepted he might have to change his approach in practice if he’s to have success in each formats.
Becoming Multi-Formatted
“It’s possibly something I would like to take a look at a bit more, tips on how to keep the tempo and structure of 50-over cricket in my game when personally my schedule is so T20-heavy,” he said.
“I’ve actually had a refocus on that after I’ve been training; it’s going back to basics and what makes a successful 50-over batter. I’ve got an excellent opportunity to indicate that within the West Indies now.”
If his position within the ODI side could do with being solidified ahead of next yr’s Champions Trophy, there aren’t any doubts about Salt’s place in England’s T20 line-up, having captained them in a 1-1 draw against Australia within the absence of Jos Buttler.
With Buttler’s nagging calf injury ruling him out of the ODIs within the Caribbean and leaving him doubtful for the five-match T20 series which follows, Salt can have to deputise once more.
“I actually enjoyed my first go at it,” Salt added. “I believe in regards to the game loads, sometimes possibly an excessive amount of. Captaincy made me drag it right back to the fundamentals of what the team needed in that moment.”
:: Phil Salt was speaking on the launch of cinch’s latest store in Manchester. For more details about cinch, visit https://www.cinch.co.uk/used-cars
