Back in late 2019, Somerset’s Lewis Gregory was given an unenviable task: to bat at No 7 in England’s Twenty20 team. In a five-match series against New Zealand he batted just three times. When he got to the crease, time was limited, risks required, the end product a tally of 21 runs from 19 balls for three dismissals.
As a sixth bowler, he was required for just four overs, used across two matches. He played another handful of internationals in the following two years before returning to the shires. It’s a hard, brutal, perhaps even slightly lonely existence down at seven.
It’s a position England have struggled with. Sam Curran has been their most-used man there across T20 internationals but has never looked right as a finisher, his six-hitting power only emerging when given a go up the order. With Curran’s left-arm cutters discarded and England lusting for rockets with the ball, Jamie Overton – once Gregory’s teammate at Somerset – has been asked to fix the problem.
Overton, with a 6ft 5in frame that screams big hits, arrived in India for England’s five-match T20 series with form behind him. A Big Bash campaign with Adelaide Strikers resulted in several red-inkers, the average a whopping 95.5, the strike rate in the 150s. Great numbers, sure, but of little meaning when you then face the best in the world.
After three matches in India, the batting hasn’t clicked, but not for the obvious reasons. While a No 7’s problem can be the lack of overs on offer, Overton has faced another issue, being called in a touch too early, having to rebuild while also letting loose. He emerged in the 12th over in the first two matches and was gone not long after. When granted the luxury of entering during the 14th over in the third T20, he perished immediately to Varun Chakravarthy, his frazzled sweep making no contact, the leg stump knocked back.
Spin has cost him on all three occasions, his tour average a painful 2.33. “I am happy to say I’m not the greatest against spin,” said Overton. “It’s something I’m working really hard on with Tres [Marcus Trescothick] and Jeets [Jeetan Patel], the spin-bowling coach. I really want to work on it.”
An upcoming stint in the Indian Premier League with Chennai Super Kings will surely aid in his development against spin. For the time being it’s pace on the ball at the end of the innings that Overton wants to take on: “That is where my area comes in, and it’s trying to get to that period.”
Pointers are being taken from elsewhere. Overton noted the 24-ball 43 Liam Livingstone hit in England’s victory on Tuesday evening – he was on 24 off 18 – as well as Hardik Pandya’s 40 in India’s reply. “The way Livi played showed how to go about it, and I can learn a bit from Hardik, even though he didn’t get them over the line,” said Overton. “The way he approached the innings, he was around a run a ball until the last four [overs], then they go.”
The good news comes with the other half of the job. Overton admitted he was unsure if he would get a go with the ball in Rajkot, recognising his status in the bowling attack. But he ended up impressing in the middle overs, his slower ball accounting for Washington Sundar at the start of the 13th, when the game remained anyone’s.
While there’s an intensity to Overton, seen when he ran out Finn Allen at the non-striker’s end in the Big Bash but didn’t appeal – finger-wagging away with some words, too – keeping calm and carrying on is required at the end of the innings.
“The overs we bowl at the end, you have to be cool, calm and collected on what you need to be doing,” said Overton. “If you’ve got other stuff going on in your head, you can’t execute what you need to execute. It’s just trying to be like a ninja. Being quite aggressive but trying to sneakily do it rather than being like a warrior and be in someone’s face.”
All three of Overton’s wickets on Tuesday night came when he took pace off, deception leading to the finest figures of what has been an odd international career, one still searching for an identity.
Picked in the Test side in 2022 against New Zealand as the marauding quick, Overton hit 97 but remains a one-cap wonder owing to back stress fractures. Last year he made his debut in the white-ball forms as a specialist batter while still recovering from injury. So perhaps it was inevitable there would eventually be a meeting in the middle, that of the all-rounder at seven. While the bowling has promise, evidence is still required with the bat as England, 2-1 down, aim to turn the series around.
