Rashid and Indian sign
AT HEADINGLEY WITH a series victory over India secured, the No 1 ODI ranking safe and this glorious summer stretching as far as the eye can see, how England must wish the World Cup was now.
As it is, Eoin Morgan’s men must keep hold of this winning feeling and more importantly this form for another 10 months if they are to justify what will be a huge weight of expectation come next June.
This decider against a strong India was a proper test of England’s bottle and skill yet thanks to a superb display from Adil Rashid with the ball and Joe Root and Eoin Morgan with the bat, they came through it with flying colours.
Rashid removed Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina with a potent spell of leg-spin, taking 3-49 as India made a below par 256-8. Root, with a second consecutive unbeaten century, secured the winning runs and Morgan, with an unbeaten 88, then brought home the win.
Jonny Bairstow had smashed 30 in 13 balls in company with James Vince (27) which set a platform which allowed Morgan and Root to cruise.
Needing just over four an over the England pair never panicked. Both had moments of luck. Root was dropped by MS Dhoni on 59 and was stumped off a no-ball from Yuzvendra Chahal on 69. Morgan, too, was dropped on 85.
Otherwise they coasted, seeing off the leg-spin threat from Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav – in doing so putting down a marker ahead of the Tests – and cruised to their target with 33 balls and eight wickets to spare.
This was a good win for Morgan, whose side now own every bilateral ODI trophy against major nations. They have posted eight series wins on the spin and this was their first against India in five attempts.
Before the game Morgan had talked about the need to emerge from crunch matches smiling ahead of the World Cup. And it was all smiles for Root, who carries superb form into the Tests after his Lord’s hundred (where he finished on 113 not out after his run-out was correctly overturned and instead given against David Willey) and an
ENGLAND will have 18 ODIs to fine-tune their preparations before embarking on a World Cup campaign on home soil next summer. Victory at Trent Bridge in the opening match of the Royal London series against India ensured that England finish the summer ranked No1 in the ICC world rankings. But a five-match series in Sri Lanka this
ENGLAND SCHEDULE 2018-19 unbeaten 100 here. India made three changes to England’s one after the second ODI. Where the substitution of James Vince for an injured Jason Roy was forced on England, Kohli’s changes were based on form with KL Rahul, Siddarth Kaul and Umesh Yadav dropped.
If that suggested correctly that India were unsure of their best line-up they got off to a shocking start, scoring just a dozen off the first five overs.
Mark Wood and Willey deserve credit for applying the brakes early and it took the introduction of Kohli to get things moving. Rohit Sharma, who had faced 18 balls for two runs, had attempted to do just that, flicking Willey off his legs only to pick out Wood at deep backward square.
Kohli’s arrival sent a ripple of excitement through those in the 13,000-strong crowd dressed in orange and blue.
In company with Shikhar Dhawan the India captain injected some energy into the innings, making the most of being dropped on 24 – a very difficult chance for Jos Buttler standing up to Moeen Ali – to push on towards three figures.
Ben Stokes broke the partnership in the 18th over, running out Dhawan with a direct hit at the non-striker’s CHRIS WOAKES made an encouraging return to first-class action but it was Matthew Fisher who impressed most with the ball for England Lions against India A on day two of the four-day encounter at Blackfinch New Road.
Warwickshire all-rounder Woakes, who suffered quadricep and knee injuries during the second Test against Pakistan last month, had made a second-team comeback for his county last week.
But this was his first major opportunity to prove his fitness ahead of the forthcoming Test series against India. The 29-year-old was the fifth bowler used