DALY’S NOW CENTRAL TO JONES PLAN

It’s all to play for in tomorrow’s decider as Thakur sees off Stokes and Morgan

EDDIE JONES launched a bizarre rant after finally selecting Elliot Daly in what he admits is the England star’s preferred position.

Daly will start at outside-centre against Ireland, in Dublin tomorrow, replacing Henry Slade (below), who has a calf injury.

It will be the first time in nearly five years the Saracens player has lined up in midfield, with Jones having capped him 31 times at fullback and 14 times on the wing since his last start at centre.

Jones said Daly had needed to “dig down deep into himself” to rediscover what makes him one of English rugby’s most gifted and versatile players.

He was not about to accept that Daly’s form and self-belief could actually have suffered from being picked at fullback for the last three years, preferring to blame “rat poison” in the media.

Jones said: “I’ve never seen confidence walk through the door, so I don’t know what confidence is.

“Players might think differently, they might work a bit harder, they might work a little bit less. I don’t think there is any such thing as confidence.

“You either think right or you think wrongly and the wrong time you start to listen to the poison that’s written in the media – and that rat poison gets into players’ heads.

“We try to spray all that rat poison you try to put in and get it out of their head.”

■ ANDY FARRELL says Ireland will need their best display of the year to stand a chance of beating his son’s England team.

England captain Owen has come out on top in both matches since his dad took charge of the Ireland team after the 2019 World Cup.

“It’s our last week of the competition and we’re in determined mood to try and put a statement out there,” said Farrell snr. “We’re up against a very good side. The standard of the England v France game was top notch.

“We have to give an 80-minute performance that is the best of our competition so far. We’ve got to have the courage to win the game.”

BEN STOKES was denied an heroic finish as two wickets in two balls helped India to a narrow eight-run win in the fourth T20 to set up a series decider on Saturday.

Those are the fine margins that can make or break the shortest format, even though this match was longer that several ODIs and almost as long as the pink-ball Test.

For the first time in the series the toss was not a major factor and the contest was still on a knife edge until the final over.

But when Shardul Thakur removed Stokes (right) for a brilliant 46 from 23 balls and then Eoin Morgan for four in successive balls in the 17th over, the guts were ripped out of England’s chase.

A target of 186 was certainly competitive, but with only Jason Roy and Stokes getting into the 40s while the rest of the line-up faltered, England fell short.

A couple of big shots from Jofra Archer (above, right) who had earlier captured his career-best 4-33 with the ball, gave India a bit of a fright in the final over with 23 required.

Thakur almost undid his good work with a couple of wides that showed the pressure and the dew was having an effect, but he held his nerve in the end.

Perhaps the greatest credit though should go to the Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who helped defend their total with a wily cunning that England lacked. His 2-16 from his four overs were the difference between the two evenly-matched sides, while Stokes and Sam Curran combined for 2-42 from four overs between them.

“We left our bowlers with too much to do against a quality side,” said skipper Morgan. “We were very happy at the halfway stage and were in control for a lot of the game, but overs 15, 16 and 17 cost us where we lost three wickets in the space of 10 balls.”

India’s youth and inexperience was again something to marvel at in the first part of the game as Suryakumar Yadav hit 57 in his first international innings, with Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer providing support.

Yadav’s dismissal may yet have even further reaching consequences though with Dawid Malan (left) taking a low catch in the deep.

Replays suggested that his hands had split as he took the catch and the ball hit the turf.

The decision has added to the calls from pundits and the MCC lawmakers for the ICC to do away with a soft signal for boundary catches.