It’s target whitewash for ruthless England

THE eyes of the English sporting public may be on the footballers against Panama in Nizhny Novgorod, but the cricketers are in no mood for distractions.

Win at Old Trafford and they will complete their first 5-0 whitewash over Australia in any format. It is a measure of their progress that anything less will feel like an anticlimax.

Leg- spinner Adil Rashid preferred to leave talk of a clean sweep until after the game, but happily conceded it would ‘mean a lot’. Not everyone, though, is convinced.

Some critics have tried to diminish the feats of Eoin Morgan’s world record-breaking team by pointing out that Australia have sent their second string. But earlier this year, playing at home, their side included Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins — and England won 4-1.

Not without reason did Ashton Agar, Australia’s left-arm spinner, refer to coach Justin Langer’s description of events at Trent Bridge, where England racked up 481 for six, as the ‘jungle’. The tourists are wandering around in a feverish daze, seeking a way out.

‘They ooze confidence and self-belief ,’ said Agar. ‘They’ve set the benchmark.’

Joe Root is the only one of England’s top seven not to have scored at better than a run a ball in this series. But the slow bowlers have been influential too, Moeen Ali and Rashid taking 19 wickets at 20 apiece between them.

Rashid said: ‘Once you play against teams and you know you have one over them, they have that in the back of their mind. They might be more hesitant and won’t be themselves. That’s how you get the edge over their batsmen.’

England may tweak their seam attack, possibly bringing in Liam Plunkett and Jake Ball for Mark Wood and Craig Overton.

Their spirit was epitomised by the message on a white board left on the boundary edge during practice. It outlined roles for each squad member for the session, and ended with a nod to events in Russia, where a photographer had zoomed in on assistant manager Steve Holland’s teamsheet. ‘Just for the press, our starting team is within this group,’ it said.

England are determined to enjoy themselves, whitewash or otherwise.