Phil Salt: England man on path to T20 greatness

Is Phil Salt underrated?

"That's a good question," said the man himself, his expression revealing more than his words.

The England opener was crammed into a tiny wooden commentary box, fresh off receiving a second successive player-of-the-match award.

Salt's 89 off 46 balls led a comfortable England chase of 197 to beat Ireland in the first of three T20s and followed his astonishing 141 not out against South Africa at Old Trafford last Friday.

It is fair to point out that Salt's latest pyrotechnics came against a second-string Irish seam attack on a belting pitch at a boutique Dublin ground, but it does not alter the answer to the question.

Yes, Phil Salt is underrated.

English cricket views the shortest forms of the game with suspicion. A necessary evil. Hold your nose and tolerate it. We'll have the Test matches back soon enough.

For that reason, white-ball specialists like Salt struggle to gain the recognition their red-ball contemporaries enjoy.

In the past week, Salt has piled on 230 runs from 106 balls in Manchester and Malahide. It is the latest chapter in an increasingly world-class career.

In 202 completed T20 internationals, an England man has reached three figures on eight occasions. Half of those tons belong to Salt.

Had Salt made 11 more runs on Wednesday, a fifth century would have put him alongside Rohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell with the most hundreds in T20 internationals. To be closing in on two GOATs is one thing, but consider this: Australia's Maxwell has played 114 innings, India's Rohit 151. Ireland was Salt's 43rd.

When Salt fires, so do England.

His average of 59.12 in England T20 wins is bettered only by Kevin Pietersen. More broadly, no regular England T20 batter comes close to scoring as quickly as the Lancashire man.

Of all England players with at least 500 T20 international runs, Salt's strike-rate of 171 is miles ahead of second-place Ben Duckett's 154.

It can be argued that international cricket is not the pinnacle of the T20 format, that the highest standard is found at the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Salt has excelled there, too.

The 29-year-old is the only batter to score more than 1,000 IPL runs at a strike-rate in excess of 175. No-one else scoring that quickly has managed to reach 500 career runs.

And this is the real kicker. Of batters to have played 30 IPL innings – so those that have had a good go in cricket's richest tournament – Salt's strike-rate of 175.70 is the highest. Every single T20 great you could think of – Andre Russell, AB de Villiers, Jos Buttler and the rest – are eating Salt's dust.

It is a record that makes him hot property at the top of the order, and a champion of the past two seasons. In 2024 it was with Kolkata Knight Riders, Salt only missing the final because England players were called back to prepare for the World Cup. This year it was with Royal Challengers Bangalore, opening with Virat Kohli.

"He has a thirst to improve," said Buttler, English cricket's most successful export to the IPL.

"If you look at him two or three years ago and where his game was, and you look at it now. He was a top player then as well, but he just wants to keep adding to his game.

"He asks questions of the coaches and other senior players, and he's added more and more to his game, which I think has made him harder to stop.

"In particular, his off-side play is outstanding, and when he's so strong through the leg side, he's hard to stop."

Buttler knows more than most about Salt. Team-mates for Lancashire and Manchester Originals, in the past week they have been reunited at the top of England's order.

Given the nature of T20 international cricket, regular opening partnerships are relatively rare. Forming a successful combo has only been done by some of the very biggest names.

In terms of the most century opening stands, Pakistan's Mohammed Rizwan and Babar Azam are out on their own with eight from 56 attempts.

Then comes Rohit, who has had four ton partnerships with each of Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, in 52 and 34 innings respectively. Australia's David Warner and Aaron Finch had four in 39.

Buttler and Salt have four in just 18.

For these reasons, there should be no debate over England's opening pair for the World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February and March of next year.

Salt missed the series against West Indies in June on paternity leave, giving the opportunity for Jamie Smith to impress, while Duckett is fighting it out with Travis Head to currently be considered the best all-format international batter in the world.

But both of those men should have to battle for a place in England's middle order. In truth, the Ashes might have a big bearing on which players make it to the World Cup.

Harry Brook will be there as captain, then all of Smith, Duckett and Jacob Bethell will either be buoyed, exhausted or both, depending on what happens in Australia.

As for Salt, he has two more knocks in Ireland, then three in a T20 series in New Zealand in October.

He has not played in a one-day international since the Champions Trophy. From 33 caps, he has a respectable average of 32 at a strike-rate of 115, though before he was dropped there was a feeling he was going too hard for 50-over cricket. In his past six ODI innings, he has not faced more than 30 deliveries.

Salt said he not been spoken to about an ODI return, while also revealing he was merely following instructions in the run-up to his omission.

"I was told to go out and play a certain way, be ultra-aggressive and start in fifth gear, similar to T20," he said.

"It's not always that easy in one-day cricket but I tried my best. While trying to do that, I didn't score the weight of runs which are required in 50-over cricket to hold a place.

"While I was disappointed, I sort of understood. I nailed my colours to the mast, that's what the team wanted of me, and it didn't quite work out."

Given there is a one-dayer against Sri Lanka in Colombo only two weeks after the scheduled fifth day of the final Ashes Test in Sydney, there feels a reasonable chance England will need to look elsewhere from recent ODI opening pair Smith and Duckett. Salt may be the beneficiary.

If not, he can simply continue his path towards T20 greatness.

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