‘PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPION SOUNDS ABOUT WRIGHT’
PREMIER LEAGUE, ABERDEEN Jordan: We’re still a great team and will come back stronger after Cape Town drubbing
CHRIS JORDAN insists England have not become a bad team overnight and says they can bounce back to square the ODI series against South Africa tomorrow.
England were humbled in Cape Town on their first 50overs outing since winning the World Cup, losing by seven wickets.
But Jordan maintained one defeat should not be taken as a sign they are heading downhill so soon after planting their flag on the summit.
“Two games ago we were lifting the World Cup,” he said. “Yes it was a bad result
PETER WRIGHT renews his rivalry with Michael van Gerwen tonight with the bullish mission statement: “I want to be the next Premier League champion.”
‘Snakebite’ Wright begins his campaign for a maiden Unibet Premier League title with a rerun of his PDC world championship final against Van Gerwen in Aberdeen. Wright, in the first match but we don’t want to dwell on it too much, just get back to what we do best.
“We want to bounce back strong and we want to bounce back harder and we are more than confident we can do that.”
Both Eoin Morgan and coach Chris Silverwood were keen to give debutants Tom Banton (right) and Matt Parkinson at least two games in which to state their cases.
That remained the case yesterday for all that they were expected to discuss again the merits of adding experience to the side in what has become a series decider at Kingsmead.
However, one thing the born in Livingston and a World Cup winner for Scotland last year, is assured of a thunderous welcome from the Dartan Army in the granite city.
And after landing back-toback TV titles, following his world championship
World Cup win has given England and particularly Morgan is a period of grace in which to push forward his agenda without fear of backlash.
And looking at the two relatively inexperienced line-ups, South Africa are just as capable of throwing in a poor one if Morgan’s men play to their potential.
Jordan put down the defeat to “losing wickets in clusters”, which never allowed them to take a cut at the Proteas bowling.
He also cited a lack of wickets with the new ball and an inability to stop triumph with another trophy in the Masters at Milton Keynes last weekend, the 49-year-old’s (right) confidence has never been higher.
He said: “I want to be the Premier League champion. That’s my next target and I see no (Sky Sports, 7pm) Michael Smith v Glen Durrant Gary Anderson v Daryl Gurney Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright Nathan Aspinall v John Henderson Gerwyn Price v Rob Cross
Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma rotating the strike.
“We did brilliantly well to even put what we thought was a competitive score on the board but we were never in a position to put them under pressure with the ball by taking wickets consistently,” said the bowler. “They rotated the strike really well and made it tough for us.
“We bowled a lot of good balls and they were still getting their singles. That meant they were always in a position to put away our bad balls.
“As a team it’s not where we want to be but we will do our best to put that right next game.”
Jordan railed at suggestions that England without express pace from Jofra Archer and Mark Wood were a little too lightweight to trouble South Africa.
“I don’t really view it that way,” he said. “At the end of the day we’re all here for a reason, we’re all here because we have various skill sets that are good enough for international cricket.
“Those other guys have different attributes to us but it’s all about trying to be as effective as possible, trying to assess conditions on that day and try to make the most of it.” reason why I can’t win it. Becoming world No.1 is the longterm target, but that’s not possible yet because of the way the rankings are calculated.
“This is definitely one on my bucket list.”
Nine players will contest the round-robin league with a guest “challenger” appearing on the bill each week. Fallon Sherrock is next week’s challenger.