‘FOCUS NOW IS TO KEEP IT GOING’
CHRIS Jordan has been impressed at how an impromptu bowling unit has laid the foundations for England’s two commanding victories at the start of their T20 World Cup campaign.
The absence of Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran forced England to juggle their plans ahead of the global tournament, while they have been further complicated by niggling injuries to Mark Wood and Tom Curran recently.
It has left pace bowler
Jordan and leg-spinner Adil Rashid as the only two survivors of an attack that featured in a five-match T20 series against India earlier this year, widely regarded as a dress rehearsal for this tournament.
But Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes have impressed in the powerplay on their comebacks to the side, while Tymal Mills has also made an impact after four injury-plagued years away in England’s wins over the West Indies and Bangladesh.
Jordan said: “The chemistry between the boys and the way everyone has taken on each and every role they’ve been given has been tremendous.
“We had two warm-up games where we were searching for that intensity and going into that first game that was a big focus for us to bring our level of our intensity and let everything else take care of itself from there.
“Everyone is obviously juggled around and any time someone’s entered the game they’ve hit their straps and backed what guys have done previously. Long may that continue, it’s obviously just two games.
“We want to continue building on it, searching for areas we can improve and keep building as the tournament goes along.”
The responsibility of opening the bowling has fallen to Moeen, who has responded with a combined four for 35 from seven overs so far, and Chris Woakes – who has proven extraordinarily economical since his return to the side.
Having been overlooked since 2015, Woakes made a surprise return to the T20 international format earlier this year and in four matches he has played, the seamer’s economy rate is 3.61 and he is yet to concede 15 runs in a match.
Mills showed his prowess at the death against Bangladesh and finished with three for 27 in his second international since 2017, while part-timer Liam Livingstone chipped in with a couple of useful wickets against the Tigers.
England blew away the Windies for 55 before restricting Bangladesh to 124 for nine, totals easily overhauled with six and eight wickets to spare respectively, and next take on arch rivals Australia in Dubai tomorrow.
“The guys who have come in have definitely come in with good form,” Jordan added.
“Obviously it’s been a good start in our first two games. We’ve had good concentration, we’ve done some decent homework on the opposition, and most importantly we have brought that intensity right from ball one.”