Morgan’s revolution has set the talent free
One-day batsmen have upped the ante in their pursuit of big totals and will carry on swinging
Trent Bridge has been the scene of many remarkable England one-day performances in recent years, but go back a little further and you find a glowing example of why they had it all wrong for so long.
Look at June 2011, when England played Sri Lanka. The series was 2-1 to Sri Lanka with two games to go after they had just outbatted England in high-scoring games at Headingley and Lord’s.
What did England do with the series on the line? They asked for a Trent Bridge green top for Jimmy Anderson and won by 10 wickets. They went on to win the series and two years later they were ranked No1 in the world in one-day cricket and satisfied they were heading in the right direction as the 2015 World Cup loomed.
But they would have learned far more if they had continued to play on flat pitches, lost that Sri Lanka series and worked out the hard way that they had to become more aggressive with the bat. Instead they took the short-term option of winning series at home on bowling pitches and went to the World Cup obsessed with being a certain score after so many overs and keeping wickets in hand. Meanwhile, the rest of the world had changed.
At that tournament Ian Bell topped the England batting averages with a very respectable 52 but he did not hit a single six in six matches.
It was fitting that that tactic was ultimately exposed by Sri Lanka, who won by nine wickets with three overs to spare in Wellington after England had crafted a total of 309 they thought was a job well done. Sitting there horrified was captain Eoin Morgan, who could not speak out and felt stymied by the management above him.
As soon as he was given control, Morgan adapted the lessons he had picked up in Twenty20 leagues around the world where he learned at the feet of Brendon Mccullum and let loose the talent that had always existed in English cricket. Now “the sky is the limit”, as Morgan said after Tuesday night’s shredding of Australia. His team are at the vanguard of one-day cricket. A world first of 500, scoring at 10 an over, is within their grasp and Justin Langer paid them the ultimate compliment yesterday.
“I’ve got massive respect for England and the way they are playing their cricket,” said the Australia coach.
“Their top three are brutal. The way they are playing is reminiscent of how we used to play in our day with Gilly [Adam Gilchrist], Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting at the top.”
Let that sink in for a moment. There has never been a better top three than Hayden-gilchristponting.
Yes this is an Australian reserve XI and they bowled poorly at Trent Bridge. But England have a relentlessness in the pursuit of a big total that makes them so formidable on good batting pitches.
A decade ago English cricket became more professional in its approach to strength and conditioning. We now see the benefits in the England side. The players are athletes, stronger than ever before and that is reflected in their stroke play. Jonny Bairstow, standing like a baseball hitter, was drilling boundaries at Trent Bridge that in the past would have been cut off by the sweeper. It makes fielding in the ring a test of courage as well as skill.
England’s success was not through funky batting. It was conventional cricket shots that flew for four and six. Jos Buttler tried to ramp his fifth ball over the wicketkeeper and missed. Not one of England’s 41 boundaries was a reverse flick or ramp. Alex Hales was asked after the game if there was an internal competition to see who could hit the ball hardest. There is no point. “I think Jos would probably win that one. I think we’ve accepted that. And Stokesy as well, when he’s swinging off his hoot,” he said.
Ben Stokes was not playing on Tuesday and Buttler made only 11. The fact that England threatened 500 without either of those two contributing said it all.
Crucially they have the freedom to keep on swinging thanks to the culture created by Morgan and coaches Paul Farbrace and Trevor Bayliss.
Morgan and Bayliss are outsiders, while Farbrace spent years working overseas with great Sri Lankan players. They have changed English ways, taking away the selfishness that held them back in the days before instinct was encouraged. “The bravery of all of them to carry on and outdo each other just did not happen in my time,” said Graeme Swann. “Then, it was have a look and make sure you don’t lose two wickets. Now, it is keep going and even up the ante. It is so non-english.”
This week is National Cricket Week and Swann was coaching kids for Chance to Shine in Coventry yesterday. This England one-day side are gold dust for the England and Wales Cricket Board and their attempts to encourage more kids to play the game.
The test is when they have to adapt on slower pitches, of course, and the series against India next month will be a much better gauge of their World Cup prospects. But for now they are flying and have a whitewash over Australia to complete. The bowlers will be rotated. Sam Curran and Craig Overton have been added to the squad for the Emirates Riverside to that end. Mark Wood deserves to play on his home ground in the fourth ODI today so Liam Plunkett might be rested, with Wood missing out on Sunday. Morgan confirmed the same batting line-up. No chance of changing that now.