The World T20: Never Mind India: Can Anyone Stop England Now?

 

The World T20

Never Mind India: Can Anyone Stop England Now?

 

March 30^th  2016

Having won the Toss in four straight matches, New Zealand finally lost one. It hardly mattered though: New Zealand wanted to bat and England wanted to chase. New Zealand had defended modest totals on several occasions and felt confident that the bowlers could do it again. England had chased-down 230 and fancied any reasonable total. New Zealand were slight favourites with the bookies, but England felt that they have their measure now, despite some appalling humiliations at New Zealand hands in the recent past.

At 55-1 after the PowerPlay and 89-1 at half way, there was every chance of a total around 200 and a very tough chase for England. Opponents of New Zealand have seen how they may start the chase well, but the New Zealand spinners have inevitably reined them in and hauled them back: to chase 200 would have been a tall order against a side that is consistently tough to beat in the shorter formats. Little were New Zealand to know that their total would prove woefully inadequate and that England would always be well ahead in the over comparison.

Where did it go wrong for New Zealand? Firstly, the innings simply ran out of steam. 89-1 after 10 overs, you would expect to score 120+ in the last 10 overs: New Zealand managed 64-7. England conceded just 20 runs in the last 4 overs and took five wickets. The pressure was already on in overs 11-14, in which only 22 were scored and the run rate plummeted. After the tenth over, one fan suggested that Eoin Morgan give up on his spinners because they were England’s weak link: Moeen Ali then came on and bowled two tight overs, removing Kane Williamson into the bargain and suddenly the momentum had slipped from New Zealand. Although Adil Rashid was relatively expensive (4-0-33-0) no one got after him either. The et tu, Brute? For New Zealand though was when Stokes and Jordan came on for the death overs and strangled the life out of the batsmen.

Jordan and Stokes? Two weeks ago, you would have been treated as almost certifiably insane to suggest that they were the ideal death over combination. Spectators in the Upper Tier of the Grandstand would start to worry about hard hats and life insurance when they came on to bowl. Chris Jordan was ridiculed every time that he took the ball. Hardly anyone remembered how Chris Jordan had bowled an extraordinary over in the super over in the UAE, limiting Pakistan to 3-1. As the tournament has progressed though, Chris Jordan has come on time and again at the death and, however much punishment he may have taken earlier, has been mean and tight. Ben Stokes has changed from being wild and loose to a handy foil. Between them, they produced the best ever spell of four death overs for England in a T20. People are not laughing at Chris Jordan now and Ben Stokes has come on by leaps and bounds.

Defending 153, New Zealand wanted a good start. What they received was a treatment similar to the one that South Africa had suffered. When, by the end of the third over, the back of the target has been more or less broken, you know that it is going to be tough to come back. Four boundaries for Jason Roy in the first over. A four and a six in the third. Another four and a six in the fourth. Two boundaries in the fifth. 60-0 after five overs and the target down to a fraction over a run-a-ball. Alex Hales – 15 from 10 balls – almost unnoticed as Jason Roy filleted the attack. When Hales fell the asking rate was 72 from 72 balls – plenty of room to re-trench, if necessary. England did when Roy and Morgan fell in consecutive balls in the 13^th over, but the bad news for New Zealand was that it left Joe Root and Jos Buttler together with plenty of time to play themselves in before the final assault. When the assault came – 32 from 9 balls – it was brutal and definitive. England won by a margin of seven wickets with seventeen balls to spare which, at this level, is almost an abyss.

No less important was the fact that, for the first time in the tournament, the spinners could not give New Zealand the type of stranglehold control that they had exercised up to now. For the first time, Santner and Sodhi came in for some heavy punishment: Sodhi’s two wickets were bought at a high price of 42 runs, double his previous economy in the tournament; while Santner went at just under 9 an over.

Now England await the winner of the second Semi-Final. And whoever plays them now knows that they will not be facing soft opposition. England have won chasing and defending a target and are showing some tremendous fighting powers. Underrate them at your peril.

Sadly, the England ladies will not join them in the Final. Chasing a modest 133 to win in the morning game on the same pitch, England were coasting at 89-1. 43 from 39 balls was the equation. Australia looked dead in the water, but England’s challenge just faded away and they finished 5 short. Both sides struggled in the death overs: Australia managed 22-3 and England, 31-4 but, the biggest singles factors were an inability of the England batswomen to makes ones into twos and pressure the fielders, plus the total lack of any contribution from the middle order in the entire tournament. Charlotte Edwards and Tammy Beaumont aggregated 340 runs in 10 innings; ten other batswomen managed just 256 runs between them in 49 innings. While the bowling has been magnificent – only Karen Brunt can say that she had a modest tournament and even she was by no means poor – there were only two scores higher than 20 from anyone other than Edwards and Beaumont, despite facing some very modest attacks in the group phase.

Part of the issue is that, outside the “Big Three”, although that standard has improved enormously, the depth is still poor. Lack of opportunity has reduced the development even of the top sides, let alone the Bangladeshes and Sri Lankas of the womens’ game. It has meant that a side like England can progress without ever playing well, because they are not being pushed and hardened, save when they play Australia or New Zealand and games against Australia and New Zealand are still far too few and far between. However, playing the mens’ and womens’ World Cups in parallel has at least raised the profile of the womens’ game, which is a start.

The West Indies have shown that there is still life in Caribbean cricket by reaching the Semi-Finals in both tournaments (along with England and New Zealand). In both contests they will start as the underdogs. They would do the game in their region a huge favour by reaching both Finals and would help to redress the balance of power in both the mens’ and the womens’ game. The balance of probability though is that they will be overpowered in both contests.