THE HIT SOUAD
How England’s batsmen became …
England created one- day cricket history at Trent Bridge with a world record display of extraordinary hitting to smash australia for 481.
So effortlessly powerful were England that new australia coach Justin langer yesterday compared the top three of Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy and alex Hales with the World Cupwinning aussie trio of adam gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting. ‘ I’ve never seen anything like that,’ said langer of Tuesday’s carnage. ‘It was brutal.’ So how did England get so powerful?
BATSMAN’S GAME
Everything in modern cricket is weighted in the batsmen’s favour, from flat pitches to more powerful bats, shorter boundaries, field restrictions, the practice of range hitting and, let’s be honest, a decline in world-class bowling.
But England turned the tide mainly with their mentality. Former England captain nasser Hussain said: ‘We always used to reward Test players with a one-day place and I remember being asked my opinion by a selector and pointing out how many good white-ball batsmen there were.
‘Selection is more important than coaching — you couldn’t coach alastair Cook to be a modern hitter, however good he is — and Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss deserve immense credit for picking the right players.’
ON THE BALL
another factor is the failure of modern cricket balls to provide assistance. In particular, the white ball will not swing, and, with two used in modern 50-over internationals, bowlers are being reduced to fodder.
‘If we gave Jimmy anderson one of the old Twort, Reader or dukes balls I played with in the 60s and 70s he would swing it round corners,’ said former England coach david lloyd. ‘That’s because they were hand-made and would have a bias, like a bowling ball.
‘Machine made ones are too perfect.’
FIT FOR PURPOSE
Modern cricketers are as fit as any elite athletes and the strength and conditioning coach is an integral part of any international team.
England have one of the best in Phil Scott. ‘These guys are serious athletes now,’ he said. ‘The co-ordination they have and their general athleticism pushes the boundaries. Cricket is a power sport repeated over a number of hours and our training is geared to that. There will be a lot of jumps and sprint-based running and we work on high velocity movement in the gym.
‘We concentrate on three pillars of power hitting. a strong base, movement that needs to be rotational and very quick and a lot of mobility work, particularly on the back and hips.’
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
gone are the days when Mike gatting, Colin Milburn or even Samit Patel could play for England. Fat is forbidden. ‘We’ve set new standards for skin folds and the top benchmark is 55 millimetres of fat,’ said Scott. ‘That’s basically what football, hockey and all Olympic sports go with. ‘We use pinchers on eight sites on the body and it’s the cumulative total in those eight sites. We ask our players to be below 80mm but the elite standard is 55 and most of them reach that now.’ One of England’s greatest bowlers, Stuart Broad, has seen the change in fitness and nutrition that has helped improve performance. ‘There are no sandwiches and scones at tea now,’ he said. ‘any cakes sent to our dressing room are given away.
‘at Yorkshire in the 80s they used to have a pint of beer at lunch but when we walk off we get a protein shake, energy gels and hydration drinks.
‘Batsmen’s bodies have changed. They are fantastically fit with big arms and batsmen have realised how much power matters.’
SETTING STANDARD
Broad was as awestruck as anyone when he watched the carnage unfold at his home ground. ‘We’ve got a Whatsapp group for notts bowlers and after about 10 overs I wrote, “lads, turn the game on if you want to see what a good job we do as white-ball bowlers at Trent Bridge”. It was 444 in 2016 and now 481. Someone will get 500 at some stage.’
It would be a big surprise if it is not England who get there first. PS England’S women got in on the act yesterday, setting a world T20 recond by smashing 250 for three against South africa. Tammy Beaumont led the way with 116 off 52 balls.