England find new way to de-code T20 cricket

NEW DELHI: Once a reluctant white-ball unit, England have come a long way. They won the 2019 ODI World Cup, their first, and have a world-class T20 unit as well.

On Tuesday, England took another step on that revolutionary road.

A nine-wicket win in the final T20 tie against South Africa at Cape Town, which sealed a 3-0 series sweep, drew extra attention for the coded messages hung from the dressing room balcony by team analyst Nathan

Leamon for skipper Eoin Morgan.

Dubbed the “live informational resource”, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said it was only suggestions to Morgan, not directives, to get the right match-ups (which bowler to bowl to a particular batsman), one of the key tactics in T20 cricket. ECB said approvals from the match referee Andy Pycroft and the ICC anti-corruption unit were obtained.

Concern that illegal betting syndicates can influence games has meant any outside support to players is frowned upon. At the 1999 World Cup, South

Africa coach Bob Woolmer and skipper Hansie Cronje were barred from using a two-way ear-piece to communicate during a game.

Steve Smith confessed to “brain fade” after the then Australia skipper was caught seeking a signal from the team balcony to know if he could seek DRS help after being given out in the 2017 Bengaluru Test. The umpire asked Smith to leave the field and it triggered a row.

At Newlands, Leamon displayed a series of alphabets and numbers, such as “C3” and “E4” for Morgan. Leamon has already used the method with Multan

Sultans in the Pakistan Super League, though via hand signals.

“A little bit of an experiment for Eoin and Nathan,” vice-captain Jos Buttler said in an interaction with the British media. “They work closely together to come up with suggestions and certain match-ups. Working on analysis and things, just a little bit of help—a sort of projection, of what match-ups are going on.

“Eoin is one of the best captains in the world, a fantastic, instinctive captain, and there is a nice balancing going on.”

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan though tweeted: “Information from the analyst, what you make of it, and will you stick with it going forward?”

Buttler said: “You have to be careful how you use the information best—there still has to be an instinctive, intuitive side to the game but if you can use analysis to better that then it is a force for good.”

Buttler joked in Sky Sports: “Leamon was calling out the EuroMillions (a lottery) numbers—the lads were checking their tickets!”

There was no instant help for the bowlers on the night—South Africa scored 191/3 before England replied with 192/1.