The World T20: Houdini England in Extremis. India on the Brink.

 

The World T20

Houdini England in Extremis. India on the Brink.

 

March 26^th  2016

 

Whisper it quietly, but the prospect of a World T20 in India without an Asian side in the Semi-Finals just got a step closer and the odds on dark horses England have just got a lot shorter. For the third time in a row England got themselves into an awful mess, vindicating the sceptics (many of them English) who expected South Africa to sneak through thanks to an England meltdown and somehow managed to extricate themselves. If you had to pick two bowlers to take and turn a situation that seemed lost, in the last two overs, with two established batsmen apparently cruising to a comfortable win, all too few runs to play with and the batsmen in control, it would not have been Jordan and Stokes.

After Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali had gone for a collective 4-0-63-0, reviving a Sri Lankan side that had looked dead and buried, Chris Jordan followed an initial spell of 2-0-16-1 with 2-0-12-3 in overs 17 and 19 to swing the pendulum back towards England. Ben Stokes then bowled an over of pinpoint yorkers to concede just 4 from the final over.

As against South Africa and against Afghanistan, England alternated brilliance with spells of utter dross. Fortunately, the Sri Lankans we capable of even worse dross, without quite touching the heights of brilliance that England managed when the mood took them, despite the almost single-handed efforts of the valiant Angelo Matthews who, in the end, simply could not make up for the inadequacy of his teammates on his own. Matthews top-scored, almost shepherded the chase home and was the most economical bowler for his team. While England staggered like a disorientated drunk to 8-1 after 3 overs of the powerplay, Sri Lanka trumped them with 15-4. 99-3 after 15 overs left the pundits wondering if England could get to around 140 and a possibly defensible total – the last 5 overs though went for 72-1, as Sri Lanka loosened the noose and offered their erstwhile victim an easy chair, a brandy and a cigar. 140 became 150 and then 170. However, despite the hapless Moeen Ali going for 21 in the sixteenth over, Sri Lanka could only garner 50-3 from the last 5 overs and 29-3 from the last four. From the twelfth over until the start of the nineteenth, Sri Lanka were always ahead, sometimes well ahead, of England at the same stage but, like a 400 metre runner who ties up in the last few metres and sees his or her rivals surge past on the line, Sri Lanka’s powerful sprint for the line ended in a despairing and impotent stagger.

The fate of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali should have put the last nail in the coffin of the theory that England could play three spinners. Had England played a rookie spinner instead of one the seamers (probably Ben Stokes), they would have lost. Adil Rashid was the revelation of the Big Bash and has had some fine performances for England in all formats in the last year, but Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and Joe Root have gone at an average of 10-an-over so far in the tournament. In contrast, Liam Plunkett has cost 4.4 runs per over and even the heavily (and unfairly) criticised Chris Jordan has gone for only 8.5.

England look set to play New Zealand in the 1^st Semi-Final in Delhi, scene of today’s match. However, were the West Indies to relax and slip up against Afghanistan, England could still top Group 1 and end up playing Australia or India in Mumbai.

West Indies v Afghanistan is the warm-up. The West Indies have been in imperious form so far and it seems inconceivable that Afghanistan can inconvenience them, but T20 does not always obey the tenets of logic and Afghanistan have pushed Sri Lanka, England and South Africa hard without quite being able to force a win. The day-night match that follows is though, begging the pardon of India v Pakistan, THE biggest match of the tournament so far. Whoever wins goes to the second Semi-Final in Mumbai to play the Winner of Group 1, the losing side goes home. The two biggest sides in world cricket are fighting for their lives when most pundits expected this match to be a preview of the Final. For India, the #1 side in T20 to fail to qualify for the Semi-Finals in their own tournament is almost inconceivable, even more so given that they are the IPL specialists: the biggest, the baddest, the toughest T20 warriors in the world, who play their cricket in the world’s finest T20 finishing school. If India lose, Asia will be left without a representative in the Semi-Finals. India were a distant second best to New Zealand, somehow scraped past Bangladesh and beat Pakistan convincingly. Expectations are high and the pressure to win at home higher still.

In front of India is an Australian side that failed in a modest chase against New Zealand, suffered a major wobble against Bangladesh before winning and then beat Pakistan fairly comfortably. Like England, both sides seem vulnerable but, while Australia have gradually started to show their best form, India have been erratic. It suggests that Australia should start as slight favourites, especially if the large and excitable crowd starts to turn against their team.