Three steps to make astonishingly good hosts even better

A fit Wood must replace Plunkett, Buttler has to improve his stumping, and promote Archer

England are good – astonishingly, unprecedentedly, admirably good – but they can get even better as this World Cup progresses. There are three areas in which they can rapidly improve. Then not only the crowd will get behind England, as they did at the Oval, especially at the sight of Ben Stokes’s sensational outfield catch, but the nation too, in a snowballing towards the final at Lord’s on July 14 – or at least the semi-finals.

First, Liam Plunkett has to make way as third seamer whenever Mark Wood is fit. Plunkett has grown during his 34 years to become a pretty unflappable seamer, with a canny range of cross-seam bouncers and offcutters, but no slower ball quite replaces the stock ball that was his trademark: the back-of-a-length delivery into the batsman’s ribs, which gave him no room to play with.

Whenever Wood is fit and raring to go, he has to replace Plunkett. Opponents will not know what is hitting them if Jofra Archer’s opening spell is followed by Wood sprinting in downwind and approaching that 94mph speed he touched in the St Lucia Test in February.

The beans “will be jumping”, the adrenalin rushing, in a batsman facing Archer and Wood at full steam, which will make life easier for Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, England’s spinners. The complete contrast between England’s all-out pace and spin will enhance the latter’s effectiveness.

The second change is that Jos Buttler has to spend more time practising the less spectacular side of his game, the wicketkeeping.

Buttler’s wicketkeeping has to improve if the excellence of Moeen’s off-spin and Rashid’s leg-spin is to be maximised.

Batting – or 360-degree hitting – is where the money is nowadays, it is what landed Buttler all his contracts in the Big Bash League and Indian Premier League, but the other half of his job – keeping wicket – is no less important for England if they are to win this tournament.

Better to make a busy 50 and take every catch and stumping than to make a 60-ball hundred then shell a few.

In the opening game at the Oval, Moeen beat not only the batsman but his keeper past the inside and outside edges. In the one-day series against Pakistan, Buttler missed two stumpings – and he kept in only four games.

Technically, he seems to be standing too upright, thereby reducing his flexibility and ability to react. Harsh, but it is true that Buttler has never kept so badly for England as he has this summer, and for England to win the World Cup they cannot afford to be weak in any department.

The final piece in the jigsaw is Archer being promoted in the batting order.

For the opener at the Oval, Archer went up one place from the No 11 that he was in the warm-up game against Australia, above Rashid to 10. Keep the promotions going, one place at a time, because Archer is not only a fast bowler, but a skilful all-rounder.

Archer could even end up at No 7 if Moeen does not make runs soon. Moeen’s long run of unproductive form continued with three runs off nine balls – a lot of balls to chew up at the end of an innings – against South Africa. He has not reached 50 in ODIS since September 2017.

It took Moeen a break away from England last summer, when he

Opponents will not know what has hit them if Archer’s spell is followed by Wood sprinting in

went back to Worcestershire and scored a double century against Yorkshire, for him to make runs for England again – and the same is not going to happen during this World Cup. Moeen is also not the person to complain in any way if Archer went in ahead of him – and England’s top order will feel even more reassured, as they go about their swashbuckling, if they know Moeen is underpinning them at eight.

There is one other concern, that Chris Woakes is not at his quickest and best: he pulled out of his run-up a couple of times at the Oval, which is never a good sign. But at least he did not pull an intercostal muscle, as he did in the opening game of the Champions Trophy at the Oval in 2019.

Meanwhile, England can savour their future prospects, after having Archer’s fast bowling served up to them on a plate, by the change in the qualification regulations. What box does he not tick as a bowler?

What dismay must Australia’s batsmen feel upon realising that the fastest bowler in the next Ashes series will not, for once, be one of their own?