Centurion for playing with ‘fire in belly’

plays like that. We’re delighted for him.”

England may not need to see off New Zealand at Chester-le-street to seal a semi-final place, but victory will guarantee their path. Morgan said the manner of the win was “outstanding”.

“It’s come at a good time against a really good team,” he said. “Having played how we did today is very encouraging for us. The closer we get to playing our A-game, the more chance we have of going all the way. If we were scraping along I wouldn’t be as confident.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan described the batting display as “outstandingly” planned.

Bairstow admitted it had been a difficult week for the team after back-to-back defeats by Australia and Sri Lanka, but he said his comments about criticism had been “misinterpreted in so many ways”. “At no point have I said the public is not behind us,” he said.

England hit an imposing 337 for seven, leaving India unable to make a record World Cup chase. Chris Woakes took two wickets and a glorious boundary catch while Liam Plunkett justified his recall in place of Moeen Ali with three for 55 – including the wicket of Virat Kohli.

Morgan said: “We’ve haven’t necessarily missed him but we haven’t bowled as well [without him].

“The wicket suited him and he bowled beautifully. It’s one thing saying a pitch will suit a guy but another to come off the bench after missing some games and deliver.”

Bairstow said the sell-out 25,000 largely Indian crowd was “a great spectacle to be a part of ”.

“There are two ways you can go about it – you can either be intimidated by it or you can go and relish it and enjoy it,” he said.

“I think the experience of guys now playing around the world in different competitions, especially in the IPL, allows people to get used to the noise, definitely the noise, and enjoy how fanatical the Indian public are about our great game.”

‘The closer we get to playing our A-game, the more chance we have of going all the way’