TOOTHLESS AND HEADLESS
Tame bowling and dopey batting a big worry for England
All that was missing on an extraordinary Edinburgh day was a pitch invasion at the end by the Tartan Army.
Otherwise this will be remembered by all involved in Scottish cricket just as fondly as their fabled football wins at Wembley in 1967 and 1977.
For England, it was a hugely embarrassing first defeat by neighbours not exactly known for their cricketing prowess at a time when Eoin Morgan’s side have been sweeping aside all before them.
But this should be remembered more as a triumph for cricket’s little guys as represented by a Scotland team ranked 13th in the world and still bristling from their controversial exclusion from next year’s 10-team World Cup. Take a bow then, 29-year-old journeyman Calum Macleod, who looked totally at home on the big stage to master a toothless England attack with an unbeaten 140 as Scotland amassed the biggest 50-over total in their history.
Even the riches of 371 for five did not look like being enough when Jonny Bairstow set off like a train in reply but Scotland kept their heads as every Englishman around them lost theirs in pursuit of their record run-chase.
When Mark Wood became the last man to fall with England six short, this picturesque Edinburgh ground erupted and Flower of Scotland rang out amid jubilant scenes.
England, meanwhile, were more like a shower in Scotland.
This was a reality check for an England side one year from the World Cup and with nine wins in their last 10 one-day series behind them. It is a huge concern, however much Morgan tried to shrug it off afterwards.
And to think this was meant to be a warm-up for the supposedly tougher tests to come in a fivematch series against Australia that begins at The Oval on Wednesday. Truly, the Aussies cannot be any tougher than this tigerish Scotland.
Whatever they say, it must be a worry to England that their attack could look so tame and concede so many runs against a team who may be totally professional but who are in effect a group of club players.
England were without Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes but there was a worrying lack of penetration and the bowlers were not skilful enough to contain the Scots on a surface that offered them nothing.
It became the first time in any one- day international that four England bowlers had gone for more than 70 runs apiece, with seam and spin alike providing little threat and no mystery.
That should take nothing away from Scotland, particularly not Macleod, who was simply superb in racing to three figures off 70 balls to become the first Scot to score a hundred against England.
This is a cricketer who once played for Warwickshire and Durham but had to stop bowling because of a suspect action and has most recently been plying his trade for Hampshire’s second XI and for Bexley in the Kent Premier league.
Here he looked completely at home against the No 1-ranked one- day side in the world, slogsweeping Moeen Ali for six to reach 50 and clearing the short boundaries twice more while also hitting 16 fours.
There were also half- centuries for Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey, a left-handed hitter who bamboozled England’s spinners with his reverse sweeping on his way to 55.
Fact is, it should not have been enough to deny a team with England’s power and ability, particularly after Bairstow had rushed to 50 off 27 balls and then looked sure to make the quickest hundred in England’s one-day history.
He fell slightly short of that milestone but still became the first Englishman to hit three successive one- day hundreds when he reached the fastest of his five 50-over centuries, all made since September, this one off 54 balls. Even after he threw it away there should have been no alarms when England reached 220 for two in the 27th over.
Instead a catalogue of errors was to prove England’s demise. It was sparked by the needless run-out of Joe Root by Alex Hales, who epitomised the dopiness prevalent in England’s performance. Root spread his hands out in dismay when he was called through for a single that was never on and Hales compounded his error when he fell cutting carelessly to point immediately after Morgan had fallen.
When Sam Billings, wasting a rare opportunity to impress with England, hit a full toss from Mark Watt straight to midwicket and David Willey quickly followed, five wickets had fallen for 46 and the upset was on.
Scotland’s dream was in danger of dying when Moeen Ali and liam Plunkett were adding 71 for the eighth wicket but Moeen senselessly threw it away before Adil Rashid then ran himself out going for a crazy second. Wood was trapped lbw by Safyaan Sharif and Scotland could celebrate one of the biggest shocks in England’s one- day history. How Scotland deserved their lap of honour.
Before now The Grange, packed yesterday with a young and vibrant 4,000- capacity crowd, was celebrated as the ground where, legend has it, WG Grace once hit a six all of 140 yards. Now it will for ever be the venue where Scotland humbled the auld enemy at cricket and sent them home to think again about their World Cup plans.