The Chronicle

England’s self-belief gets results

-

CENTURION Jonny Bairstow backed England to keep swinging for the fences after the tourists put India to the sword with 20 sixes in the second one-day internatio­nal in Pune.

Bairstow cleared the ropes seven times en route to a brilliant 124, while Durham star Ben Stokes went all the way on 10 occasions before falling for a brutal 99.

With Jason Roy and debutant Liam Livingston­e also showing off their range, it added up to a serious display of hitting power as England chased down a target of 337 with 39 balls and six wickets to spare.

While that high-risk strategy comes with no guarantees Bairstow suggested the option would always be attractive to a side that define themselves by their aggression.

“There hasn’t been any conversati­on saying ‘we must hit more sixes’, it’s just happening that way,” he said.

“But the way the game is going, be it 50-over cricket or T20 cricket, the team that hits the most boundaries generally wins the game. If you’re hitting them for six rather than four you are going to win even more.

“We had hit 20 sixes, that’s an extraordin­ary number in one game.”

He added: “Executing won’t happen every single time and people will get out doing it but everyone in the dressing room is backing the person in the middle. If they want to hit the ball for six, they believe in everyone’s ability.”

Despite being in the thick of things for the majority of the chase, even Bairstow admitted to losing track of the scoreboard as it spun round during the decisive phase where Stokes moved from 50 to 99 in the space of just 11 deliveries.

“I got told a couple of stats after the game and didn’t realise it was like that,” he said.

“We had 87 runs in five overs... if you’re able to put together those overs back to back you put yourself in a position to win the game more often than not. It was some good hitting, wasn’t it?

“The match up Ben decided to take down were the right match ups and he struck it beautifull­y.

“There is a method, I promise you. We’re not just playing shots and slogging.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom