Plunkett, the partnership breaker, an inspirational figure of premier quality

Wily bowler must have impressed even the Prime Minister as he engineered rivals’ exits

Amongst the great, the good and the notorious in attendance at Lord’s yesterday, the Prime Minister was spotted viewing England’s World Cup joy unfold. If she was there scouting for inspiration, she need look no further perhaps than Liam Plunkett. At cricket’s own house of Lord’s, the sport’s northern powerhouse broke the back of New Zealand’s middle order with three for 42 from his 10 overs.

Expect the Middlesbrough-born man to be wheeled out in political decentralisation campaigns to come. In Plunkett, England have a slick, New-age, digital northern incarnation. As a 34-year-old fast bowler, he might soon need some artificial intelligence to keep him going, mind. But Plunkett, despite his intimidating frame, does not impose himself unless he needs to.

To think that, pre-tournament, his name was in the mix for omission by way of Jofra Archer’s arrival seems almost ludicrous now. Plunkett is the only England player with a 100 per cent record in this World Cup, having sat out the group stage losses to Pakistan,

Sri Lanka and Australia. Earlier in the year, among the red mist of England fast bowlers feeling threatened by Archer’s imminent inclusion, Plunkett remained silent. The tall, towering but ultimately gentle giant, was eventually drawn to comment but simply shrugged his shoulders and admitted, “with him in your squad, you’re going to be a better team”. A realistic resignation to the truth, we wondered, or a man comfortable in his own skin, his own action and his own place in the side. Real men, they say, wear pink. Plunkett, no doubt, has a few salmon polos stashed in his locker.

We often hear about the tearaway quicks opening the bowling, or the pinpoint death bowlers nailing their yorkers, but yesterday’s final had two of the most effective middle-over bowlers the game has seen. Lockie Ferguson, New Zealand’s one out-and-out quick, has produced a searing package of bumpers to unravel opposing teams, but Plunkett’s days of raw pace are behind him.

Instead, England have a wily workhorse to grind out the middle overs. He varies in pace and in seam position and the combination of the two offer almost endless possibilities. Experience has also moulded him into a man unflustered by what has come before; Plunkett’s first three overs failed to threaten and went for 19.

Removed from the attack, he returned only once England were searching for answers. And just as the Kane Williamson-henry Nicholls partnership had started motoring, Plunkett had the key man. It took Mark Wood’s fingernails to run Williamson out in the previous encounter but Plunkett did him the old-school way – line, length and some canny variation.

With that wicket, Plunkett broke New Zealand’s highest partnership of the match, of 74, and it continued a tournament trend. His 10 wickets at that point had, on average, broken a partnership of 59 runs.

On the one hand partnership breaker, on the other, partnership maker; in the three overs after Williamson’s dismissal, New Zealand managed just eight runs as Plunkett instilled confidence in the man at the other end.

Adil Rashid, until then having not quite found his rhythm, visibly grew in confidence. If Jonny Bairstow needs Jason Roy to fully flourish, Rashid needed Plunkett. The leg-spinner’s following five overs went at just four per over and included a slew of near misses and unpicked wrong ’uns.

As Plunkett approached his own final over, three wickets and 40 runs against, he stood alongside only Derek Pringle as an Englishman to have taken three wickets in a World Cup final. Plunkett, however, needed a fourth to claim best figures, Pringle’s three for 22 in 1992 offering superior returns.

But it is the cause that counts, in the end, and as Plunkett left the field, a doff of the cap and to all-round applause, there was no doubt he would have settled for silver if England, for the first time ever, claimed the gold – a wish that ultimately came true.