England fight back in thriller to level series
Hales hits superb 58 as hosts win by five wickets Wrist-spinners prove playable on green pitch
Alex Hales, with a new maturity, and Merlyn, with a bit of wizardry, enabled England to level the T20 series against India at 1-1 by winning the second international with five wickets and, more relevantly, two balls to spare. The third and deciding match takes place tomorrow afternoon in Bristol, where Merlyn the spin-bowling machine was manufactured, if not born.
In the first international, at Old Trafford, India’s left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav and the right-arm wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal had taken five England wickets for 58 runs. On a pitch in Cardiff that did not suit them quite so well, India’s pair took one wicket in their eight overs and conceded 62 runs, with Jonny Bairstow joining Hales in the role of England’s chief wizard by slog-sweeping Kuldeep twice for six.
Hales was man of the match for seeing England home and merited his reward all the more because he had been bemused by India’s wristspin in the opening game. Here the novelty of Kuldeep and Chahal was that much less, and Merlyn had replicated their trajectory in the nets, while another difference was that England were chasing only 149 and so they did not have to go too hard too soon.
The pitch was green and grassy, no doubt to reduce the effectiveness of India’s spinners as well as to increase that of England’s seamers, who all bowled well, until the 20th over. Moeen Ali had been hammered in the Old Trafford opener, so the conditions were right for replacing him with a fourth seamer. With two spinners England would not have won.
David Willey and Liam Plunkett both made the utmost of England winning the toss by bowling their most economical four-over spells yet in T20 internationals. Willey started over the wicket and finished with two overs round the wicket when he picked up Virat Kohli, pulling to fine-leg for a relatively restrained 47.
Plunkett claimed the big wicket of KL Rahul for six. By the 16th over Plunkett, England’s most senior bowler, was bowled out. Which left Jake Ball to carry the baby.
It was Ball’s T20 international debut. Just as relevantly, he has not established himself in any format in the England side, so his confidence is fragile. He began strongly, bouncing out Rohit Sharma but the debutant was left to bowl the 20th over when MS Dhoni was bound to unleash, and Ball’s over cost 22.
Not all the runs came off the bat but 17 of them did. Jos Buttler conceded four byes and Ball chipped in with a wide, for height, then a no-ball when he bowled too high again. So Ball, frazzled, bowled length – a highly sloggable length. India were way behind at 126 for five off 19 overs, their captain Kohli gone; they finished with a flourish and an almost defendable 148.