World Cup 2019, Days 20-23: Oh, England! Sri Lanka blow qualification wide open

 

World Cup 2019

Days 20-23: Oh, England! Sri Lanka blow qualification wide open

June 22^nd 2019

Just when you thought that this World Cup had no surprises to offer. Just when you thought that the Big Four would navigate calmly into the Semi-Final. Just when you thought that England had got rid of their brainstorm day against Pakistan and were looking frightening, enter the dragon… or, in this case, the Lion.

Most pundits had written-off Sri Lanka, who have looked pretty awful so far. Their route to qualification still looks difficult, but two of their veterans have shown that there is life yet in the side.

Four days. Four matches. And the Big Four suffering a bit more than anyone expected apart, of course, from India, whose serene progress should continue today, against Afghanistan.

It is interesting that, with two games in hand now over most of their rivals, India should play the side destined to finish bottom, with a perfect, losing record. How much damage was done to Afghanistan on Monday when, after a slow start, England hammered their bowlers to such brutal effect, that it was a surprise that that last ball of the innings failed to go for the boundary that would have brought up the 400?

The England innings can be summed-up by a few numbers:

·       England were 46-1 after 10 overs, but scored 142-4 from the last 10.

·       England were 106-1 after 20 overs, but scored 233-4 from the last 20.

·       Eoin Morgan’s World Cup record 17, 6s meant that he scored 102 of his 148 runs in 6s.

·       Moeen Ali, who has been in poor form with the bat, scored 30 from his first 8 balls at the death, before only being able to dig out the last ball for a single, to finish with 31 from 9.

·       Rashid Khan, the Afghan spin wizard, went for 9-0-110-0 and would have taken the record for the most expensive figures ever in an ODI had he bowled his full 10 [Mick Lewis, of Australia, got his 10^th over v South Africa, in 2006 and finished with 10-0-113-0].

When Jofra Archer removed Noor Ali Zadran quickly, the sense of embarrassment was palpable. Gulbadin Naib added some defiance and, although Afghanistan never made a real effort to chase (strangely, they were actually ahead of England after 10 overs), they batted out their overs for their best-ever World Cup total.

There was little in a 150-run margin to suggest the disaster to come.

New Zealand then played a low-scoring cliff-hanger against South Africa. Certain traditions were observed. South Africa lost one of their openers quickly – in this case, de Kock. Although #2-6 all got starts, no one could push on. And 241-6 from 49 overs looked like being an interesting chase given that New Zealand’s largest, so far in the tournament, was the 245 to win against Bangladesh, which ended in the closest finish to a match so far. New Zealand were ahead of the chase for most of the innings, although some tight overs around over 30 actually led to South Africa having their noses in front. The difference, though, was that Kane Williamson was still there and, in partnership with Jimmie Neesham, chipped away and chipped away at the target. When Neesham fell, had Williamson followed, surely South Africa would have won.

Eight to win from the last over.  Phehlukwayo to bowl. Single first up. Williamson on strike. Phehlukwayo tries a variation. Williamson sees it and dumps the ball into the stands to bring up his century with his first six. Another boundary, third ball – 11 from 3 deliveries in a low-scoring match – and Williamson was the difference between the two sides.

The question is: if they are faced with chasing 320, or 340 instead of 240, how will New Zealand do? We do not yet know.

Then, we had Australia against a re-vitalised Bangladesh. The fans expected a blood-bath and got it, but not the way that they had expected. At 30 overs Australia were going along at 5.6, showing little sign of what was to come. Crucially, though, there were wickets in hand and a set batsman. 168-1 from 30 overs suggested 330-340, but Australia had obviously been watching England’s methods: 213 from the last 20 overs, 131 from the last 10 overs. The third highest score of the World Cup so far. Far too many, one thought.

Bangladesh, though, are beginning to believe in their ability. Even though wickets fell regularly, they kept chasing hard and, at half way, were 177-4 and 9 ahead of Australia at the same stage. Mushifiqur and Mahmudullah came together and put together a big partnership although, critically, slipped further and further behind the asking rate.

With 5 overs to go and 82 wanted, Australia just needed to keep calm but, at 300-4, Bangladesh were just in the match still.

One big over? It was the 46^th.

Nathan Coulter-Nile conceded just four runs and took wickets with consecutive balls. That over killed-off Bangladesh and the only remaining interest was Mushifiqur’s century, which he duly obtained in the penultimate over. Australia won and won well, putting down a big marker, but the suggestion remains that their support bowling is vulnerable.

Can Australia defend 340 against a good batting line-up?

And then, the one that hurts for the hosts. Literally. And metaphorically. A body blow in the gut.

Sri Lanka batted and, after 14 balls, were 3-2: one each for Archer and Woakes. The track looked like a belter. The pundits were suggesting that Sri Lanka would need 350+ to have some hope of defending. When Angelo Matthews came in, he could hardly get bat to ball. At 30 overs it was 133-5 and one wondered if Sri Lanka could get to 220. Would England take 20? 25? 30 overs to seal the win?

However, Sri Lanka never folded. Matthews started to get a little more fluent. 180 was passed. Then 200. Then 220. 232 looked way short, but the momentum had shifted slightly because it was quite a lot more than Sri Lanka would have expected half an hour earlier.

James Vince, stand-in stuntman for Jason Roy takes a single off the first ball. Jonny Bairstow faces. Straight. Bairstow hits across the line. 1-1 and, suddenly, the butterflies are fluttering. James Vince doesn’t last long. 26-2 and the World Cup is awake. This was England’s nightmare scenario: chasing a small total on a pitch that, despite the opinion of the pundits, is proving hard to score on fluently.

Root and Morgan together. Surely order will be restored. England to win by eight wickets? They bedded-in carefully, always below 4-an-over. In other sides this would be a bad sign, after the Afghanistan game it was simply the promise of a rain of sixes to come, but they never did.

73-2: everything under control.

127-3: everything under control. Root and Stokes batting nicely.

And then the innings disintegrated. Ben Stokes played sensibly and tried to guide the tail towards the target. Even at 170-5, with Moeen looking in the mood, the target seemed trivial. Sri Lanka kept the pressure on. The RRR passed a run-a-ball and wickets fell. The bowlers were magnificent. The fielders backed them up. Stokes and Wood put on 26 for the last wicket and one wondered if there might yet be a last twist. Pradeep bowled a quick one. Wood edged. Perera pouched. And the great upset was sealed.

It looked for all the world as if, with a small target and England always up with the Sri Lanka score at the same stage, the batsmen just relaxed too much.

However, Lashith Malinga, with 10-1-43-4, showed that he can still be a potent force. It was the wonderful performance that toppled the pre-tournament favourites by making his team-mates believe in what seemed impossible.

Sri Lanka now play South Africa, West Indies and India. If they win those first two matches, their last game, against India, the penultimate qualifier of the tournament, will become a possible Semi-Final eliminator. How it would set things up!

How much damage has this defeat done England, who are now faced with most-likely having to beat at least two and possibly all three of New Zealand, Australia and India to qualify?