England look to dynamic duo of Salt and Jacks for new opening gambit

Hard-hitting pair aim to make an explosive impact for tourists in Saturday’s third and deciding ODI against West Indies

England arrived in the Caribbean after a sapping World Cup in search of encouragement, glimpses of green shoots in a freshly seeded flowerbed. Within the first hour of the first game that mission had been accomplished as Phil Salt and Will Jacks put together a stand of 77 to continue an impressive start to their international union, which was followed with 50 in the second.

These are early days for England’s new opening partnership – though they also played together for Pretoria Capitals in last year’s SA20, where they were their team’s top two scorers – but Salt already describes Jacks as “probably the best partner I’ve batted with in white-ball cricket”.

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