T20 World Cup: England’s pros and cons from the tournament so far

Even with 202-7 against Italy, there is still a feeling that England’s batting has not fully fired up in this tournament.

They scored 184-7 against Nepal, were bowled out for 166 by the West Indies and wobbled when chasing 153 in their win over the Scots.

The problem was not the entry of speculators.

The English have reached 25 overs 14 times so far – the most of any team in the competition – but only four of those overs have been converted into fifties. No English player achieved a score higher than 75.

Will Jacks rejected the idea that this was due to speculators failing to take responsibility.

“Responsibility in T20 can be misunderstood,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a responsibility to try to get to 30 goals.”

Malan believes The Hundred could have an impact.

“There’s more focus on the first 10 overs now, so if you lose wickets in those first 10 overs, it makes it tougher in the end, but you still need to keep going,” he said.

“I was always more worried about the second 10 overs, so it was about setting things up and then being able to get to the 180 or 190 mark, if the score and the wicket dictated that.

“A lot of these players play The Hundred which has fewer balls, which means you have to keep getting ahead early, and it doesn’t really teach you to absorb pressure for an over or two.”