ENGLAND’S SIX-POINT PLAN TO RULE THE WORLD!
Eoin Morgan’s men suffered a shock defeat against Scotland but don’t worry, here’s…
First things first. to be at the Grange on sunday was a joy. this was a fabulous day for cricket, with scotland striking a blow for all associate nations so controversially denied their passage to next year’s World Cup.
the scots thoroughly deserved one of the greatest of upsets, beating a nearinvincible England one- day side fair and square in front of just the sort of family audience the ECB so craves from its gimmicky new tournament.
it was a triumph immediately recognised yesterday when Derbyshire announced the signing of century hero Calum MacLeod for the t20 Blast.
With England’s one- day series against the old enemy Australia starting tomorrow, here are six issues they can address to get back on track ahead of next year’s World Cup on home soil:
1 PLAY THE SITUATION
the defeat in Edinburgh raises serious issues for an England side who simply have to win the World Cup to justify the considerable investment in one-day cricket made by Andrew strauss and, consequently, the decline in the test team. England may have undergone a white-ball revolution but need to realise they cannot always hit their way out of trouble.
they must play the situation in front of them. Morgan said after the scotland loss that they will learn from mistakes playing ‘their way’ but the dismissals of Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali when going so well showed they must be more intelligent.
Bairstow was brilliant in making his third straight oneday century but this time he had to go on and win the match. Moeen had salvaged the situation after England lost five wickets for 56 but then gave it away when all he had to do was play sensibly for the rest of the innings. the hard work was done: that’s what England do not seem to grasp.
2 DON’T BE DOPEY
talking of intelligence, there was no greater lack of it than in the display of Alex Hales, who could be dropped when Ben stokes returns.
He has been a key component in the rise of England’s whiteball cricket and has scored half- centuries in his last two innings but has the worst game- management of any England player.
He was culpable in Joe root’s run- out before inexplicably giving his wicket away the very next ball after Morgan was dismissed. it left two new batsmen at the crease at the worst possible time and was the personification of England’s mismanagement.
3 BOWLERS NEED TO GET UP TO SPEED
Yes, the Grange pitch was perfect for batting and yes, the boundaries were very short but there is no way the best one-day side in the world should allow the 13th-ranked team to score 371. stokes and Chris Woakes were sorely missed but there was a lack of penetration and flat-wicket skills.
Nobody was more worrying
than Mark Wood, who is lacking the extreme pace that marked him out as England’s X-factor.
Wood was still bowling around 85-87mph in Edinburgh but he is gun-barrel straight and does not get the bounce of, say, Liam Plunkett. If injuries have taken their toll and he cannot get back up to 90mph then he will struggle to sustain an international career.
Also, giving up red-ball cricket to concentrate on white-ball did not appear immediately to benefit Adil Rashid.
4 PLAN FOR LIFE WITHOUT STOKES AND WOAKES
There is no getting around it. The absence of Stokes causes chaos to the balance of all England sides. He is such a valuable cricketer with bat, ball and in the field that his injury leaves him sorely missed.
But England have to get used to it. Various niggles and off-field problems are causing Stokes to miss an alarming amount of cricket and there is a danger that an all-rounder once destined for greatness is drifting.
It was pertinent, too, that Morgan should point out before the Scotland match just how slowly Woakes heals. We are unlikely to see him at all during the Australia series and it could be that striving for extra pace has taken its toll.
This is the second summer running Woakes has gone down with injury and his overseas record renders him a home specialist now. It can only be hoped we haven’t already seen the best of him.
5 MAKE IT COUNT ON FLAT TRACKS
Perhaps the biggest concern in Scotland was that the defeat came on a perfect batting pitch. It was exactly the sort of surface England have appeared capable of chasing anything on, let alone 372 against a sub-standard Scottish attack.
Record chase or not, they should have won. They should have won last year’s Champions Trophy, too, but were undone in the semi-final against Pakistan on the sort of slow, turning track they could easily come across again with the ICC preparing World Cup wickets with an eye on sub-continental sides.
The last thing England need is to waste opportunities on pitches made for them.
6 . . . BUT LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE!
We also need to keep things in perspective. Life should be about to get much better for England. Australia are in town! The rested Jos Buttler will be back for tomorrow’s 50- over match, the first of five, and, with Australia missing their cheating pair, Steve Smith and David Warner, and injured fast bowlers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, England will be expected to win this series comfortably.
There would be nothing like a 5-0 thrashing of the Aussies to make England forget their embarrassing excursion north of the border.