Morgan’s T20 rallying cry
Lack of control and clarity leaves T20 side relying on runs Five-match series in India key preparation for World Cup
England need to be more adept at winning low-scoring limited-overs matches, according to captain Eoin Morgan as his side prepare for their five-match Twenty20 series against India, which starts today in Ahmedabad and look ahead to the T20 World Cup later this year.
England play Twenty20 cricket the way Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United would have approached it. You might score 181, but we will score 182.
Since the ODI World Cup in 2019, when T20 has been Eoin Morgan’s priority, England have scored quicker than any of the other top-10 sides. The trouble is, they have also conceded runs most rapidly, at an eye-watering economy rate of 9.05.
There has been some mitigation. England’s T20 side have been below full strength far more than their Test team, a point forgotten in some recent debates about rotation. The pitches and grounds England have played on – especially in the five games in New Zealand in 2019 – have also often been conducive to quick scoring.
Still, the point remains: if England are to become the first men’s team to hold the ODI and T20 World Cups simultaneously, they cannot rely solely on their batting. As Morgan has stressed ahead of the five-match T20 series which begins in Ahmedabad today, his side need to be more adept at winning low-scoring games.
To understand why, consider how West Indies won the last T20 World Cup – also held in India – in 2016. It is remembered as a triumph of unparalleled hitting, culminating in Carlos Brathwaite’s astounding heist in the final at Kolkata. And, while there is plenty of truth in this explanation – in the way they targeted sixes, accepting more dot-balls, West Indies were not merely playing a better game but a completely different one – it is incomplete.
To win in India, West Indies also had to adapt. In two of their victories, against Sri Lanka and South Africa, they conceded only 122 to edge lowscoring games. With the certainty of wickets being reused at this year’s World Cup, England will have to do the same, rendering the experience of playing five matches at the Narendra Modi Stadium essential.
Some teams hunt wickets with the new ball; others prefer to contain. England do neither. Since July 2019, England’s attack averages 47 in the six-over powerplay, a full 20
runs more than the global average among the top-10 sides. They also concede 9.34 an over, almost two runs higher than the global average as well as the worst in the world.
“We’d love to take wickets early,” Morgan said. “We do strive to take wickets; we just haven’t managed to do that, so we’ll continue to both change strategy in things that we’re doing but also trying to get better at being more threatening.”
Handing the new ball to Jofra Archer will help – even if his excellence in all phases means England are loath to give him more than two overs with it. Perhaps the most pressing need is to sort out who takes the new ball with him.
In England’s last series, in South Africa, Sam Curran opened. He took a wicket with his sixth ball en route to three for 28 in the first game, but did not get one in the last two games. While Curran is valued for his leftarm angle, penchant for new-ball swing and lower-order hitting, this series will tell us if he can be relied on to deliver four overs. Mark Wood, fellow left-armer Reece Topley and Tom Curran should all get opportunities later in the series.
Seven months out from their opening World Cup match, there is still a feeling of experimentation. Even Chris Jordan, England’s most prolific T20 wicket-taker, is not completely secure in his role as firstchange seamer and death bowler. In all T20s since the start of the 2019 summer, he has conceded 9.9 an over in the final five – 0.6 more than the average for death bowlers.
While England have six quick bowlers in their squad, there is still time for other options to emerge from outside. David Willey has unrivalled pedigree taking new-ball wickets; he is a left-armer and handy hitter to boot. Fellow left-armers Tymal Mills and Harry Gurney both have fine records at the death.
Yet while England’s pace dilemma is marked by a lack of clarity over their options, at least they have them. It is instructive that, even on wickets expected to offer appreciable turn, England only selected two spinners. Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali will be expected to play every game, with Moeen needing to show greater control to right-handers. If England could be guaranteed the fitness of one cricketer throughout the T20 World Cup, it would surely be Rashid.
For all the contrasts between T20 and the longer formats, one truth remains: the side with the best bowling tends to win. From Chennai Super Kings in earlier iterations of the Indian Premier League to Mumbai Indians more recently, the dominant T20 team have tended to be those with outstanding bowling attacks.
Much more than a series win, success for England against India would be developing an attack that does not leave them always reliant on out-hitting their opponents to win.