Knight time
England captain’s record T20 score gives tourists win Down Under
England have never had to worry about what it feels like to be the hunted before, but now they are world champions they know other teams will be looking to take their scalp.
They begin their first one-day international series since the World Cup on Tuesday in Cape Town, when the cycle towards the next tournament begins.
Focus for England is on Twenty20 cricket, given the World Cup in that format takes place in October, so do not be surprised to see some experimenting in 50-over cricket over the coming months.
Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali were major planks of the World Cup-winning side but are likely to be rested on Tuesday, with Matt Parkinson, the 23-yearold leg-spinner, given a debut instead. Parkinson has spent the winter a passenger, overlooked for Test cricket when England realised he was too green with a red ball in hand. However, white-ball cricket is his format and England are content to let Moeen and Rashid rest before the T20 series, with the option of bringing them back if South Africa take a lead in the 50-over games.
Tom Banton will also be given his ODI cap on Tuesday and Joe Denly is set to take the final place in the top seven ahead of Dawid Malan. Denly made 85 in an inconsequential 50-over warm-up game in Paarl, while Malan was out for a two-ball duck.
Paarl is in a region of South Africa that has been hit by power cuts as the national electricity company conserves energy for larger metropolitan areas. For two hours in the morning and then late afternoon, Boland Park was without electricity. The scoreboard was blank so, to avoid confusion, the sides agreed to halt the South Africa XI’s reply to England’s 346 for seven after 20 overs (they were 103 for three). Instead they were set 85 off a further 10 to keep things simple and won with two balls to spare.
It was a waste of time as a contest but England were happy with glorified middle practice and an early departure back to Cape Town.
The tree-lined Boland Park is surrounded by sloping vineyards and protected by a mountain range from the strong wind off the coast, so it was a sweltering, still day when it was best to get your work done quickly in the middle and retreat to the shade.
Jonny Bairstow did just that, cracking a century off 83 balls, retiring on exactly 100 to let others have a bat. After a poor winter in which he lost his Test place twice, Bairstow is ready for the change in format. After Jason Roy’s hundred in the first warm-up game on Friday, Bairstow’s century showed that the opening partnership that was so central to England’s World Cup success is in decent working order.
Roy has been injured this winter with a shoulder problem and Bairstow has been out of form, so they both needed these matches to get the feel again for playing international cricket.
“It’s lovely to be called world champions,” Bairstow said. “At the same time, now you have got a title on your head, that makes people, even more so now, want to beat you.”
Bairstow was prickly when asked about his Test cricket but if he makes runs against South Africa it could be enough for selection in the squad for the tour to Sri Lanka, where he scored his last Test century. “I am playing oneday cricket, aren’t I, so I don’t think I need to be speaking about something that’s gone,” he said.
Bairstow has been working on his technical faults in Test cricket away from the spotlight with batting coach Graham Thorpe. The coaches know that when he thinks the world is against him, it usually translates to runs.
“I don’t feel I need to talk about my Test cricket today. Tuesday is an ODI, isn’t it? I am concentrating on Tuesday, opening the batting and keeping wicket in white-ball. That’s at the forefront of my mind. Then we reassess and go again.” Yep, Bairstow is in the mood to prove a few people wrong again.