Muddled Australia seek to learn from Morgan’s example
England show benefits of splitting captaincy as ODI side target 4-0 lead in tomorrow’s one-dayer
While Australia talk about rejuvenating their team to be realistic World Cup contenders next year, England are emboldened and reaping the benefit of having a specialist one-day captain. Eoin Morgan is in total control of his side and England’s decision to split their captaincy jobs is working superbly as far as white-ball cricket is concerned.
This series against Australia is the best performance by the team under Morgan’s command and it is hard to see them not going 4-0 up tomorrow (starting 3.20am UK time) at the Adelaide Oval. Meanwhile, Australia are in a mess. They have lost 10 of their past 11 ODIS and are casting envious glances at England, who have won 18 out of 20.
Steve Smith has twice talked of copying England in this series, picking himself out to play the Joe Root role of anchoring the innings. But there is just not the same consistency about Australia’s cricket, with chopping and changing in selection and tactics.
After winning the toss in the last game in Sydney, Smith put England in because they prefer to chase, but he should have known the pitch at the SCG slows up under the lights. Instead of doing what was best for his own team, he did what he thought was worse for England.
Smith looks weary, too, whereas Morgan is fresh. A couple of new coaches have also helped to lift everyone. Chris Woakes has complimented Graham Thorpe’s impact on his batting since the Ashes and Mark Wood believes Chris Silverwood has enabled David Willey to get his swing back.
The big step forward, however, has been how they have adapted to conditions. In the past, England have been brilliant on flat pitches but failed to recalibrate their tactics on trickier surfaces.
They were bowled out by South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada when the ball swung at Lord’s last summer and could not rein in their attacking style when Pakistan got the better of them on a slow pitch in Cardiff. But in Sydney on Sunday they readjusted to a two-paced pitch and proved there is more than one way to a 300-run total, with Jos Buttler playing his best ever ODI innings.
With Morgan, England have a one-day captain solely focused on white-ball cricket. He has not played first-class cricket since July 2015 and is unlikely to do so again. He spends his life on the road in coloured clothing and sees winning the World Cup in 2019 as the culmination of his career.
His masterful handling of his bowlers has been his greatest strength, juggling them in Sydney when Liam Plunkett broke down, and has known when to use his spinners throughout the series.
“Morgan is such a good captain: the way he leads and speaks,” said Wood. “Every game we’ve played, we’ve not been happy with the overall performance, although we’ve been happy with the win. We’re always looking to try to strive for that ‘perfect game’. We did things like turning on the sprinklers the other day to practice slide field- ing; we also practised catching the ball and throwing it out the back of your hand.”
Wood was asked if Morgan was the best captain he had played under. “His body language in the field, even if you get hit for four, it’s always excellent. He backs you 100 per cent. So, yeah, he’s probably the best.”
England lack the one superstar bowler that is often needed to win a World Cup. Australia had Mitchell Starc in 2015, and a galaxy of greats in the 2000s when they dominated white-ball cricket. Wood, with his pace, could be that gun bowler if he stays fit, but knows he needs to add more skills to his game and is working on improving his slower ball. With Plunkett injured and not expected to be fit for two weeks due to a hamstring strain, it looks as if Willey will play in Adelaide, giving Morgan the left-arm option. He is now targeting a whitewash, a truly remarkable turnaround for a team pilloried when they lost their last ODI in Adelaide to Bangladesh, a result that sent them crashing out of the World Cup. Back then they were accused of being obsessed with data and batted with a handbrake on. Now the only data that matters is how many games they have won. Australia opener Aaron Finch, who scored two hundreds and a fifty in the series so far, has pulled out with a hamstring strain. Travis Head will play instead.
England (probable) JJ Roy, JM Bairstow, AD Hales, JE Root, EJG Morgan (capt), JC Buttler (wkt), Moeen Ali, CR Woakes, AU Rashid, DJ Willey, MA Wood.
Australia (probable) TM Head, DA Warner, CL White, SPD Smith (capt), MR Marsh, MP Stoinis, TD Paine (wkt), PJ Cummins, JA Richardson, A Zampa, JR Hazlewood.
Start 3.20am. TV BT Sport.
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