England – The Last frontier
Battle of the Blues and Blacks - skippers Morgan of England and Williamson of New Zealand are equally confident of a win
Unsurprisingly, England and not-so-favoured New Zealand, meet in today’s Lords final of the 12th Cricket World Cup.
First to the Kiwis. Most cricket followers will shed a silent fear for the disciplined New Zealand team. Not given to too many tantrum, they have gone about their business with dignity and decorum. All this is a reflection of the personal characteristics of their captain who has earned a reputation for his calm, unfazed leadership. On top of all that, Kane Williamson, a batsman in the classical mould, has churned out runs by the dozen. He, together with Ross Taylor, senior players both, have been the main
run-scorers.
Martin Guptill, the leading run-scorer in the 2015 edition, has flopped dismally, after his heroics against Sri Lanka. It may not quite be redemption, but he became everyone’s darling when he ran out MS Dhoni at a crucial stage of the first semi-final game.
The semi-final was won on the back of some superb new ball bowling by Trent Boult and Matt Henry. The Indian openers obligingly fished outside of stump and perished. Virat Kohli was undone on the shuffle. Youngsters Ishant Pant, and the charismatic Hardik Pandya, threatened to revive the innings, but succumbed to loose shots. Inexperience is the verdict, but that explanation will have few-takers.
In my book, for an ODI, Ravindra Jadeja should be slotted in after Kohli on the team sheet. How he was left out in some of the earlier games is a mystery. A tight left-arm leggie and a brilliant fielder in any position, Jadeja show-cased his batting talent with some effortless aggression. This was clean hitting at its best. The guiding presence of Dhoni at the other end, obviously released Jadeja to go for broke. The 116-run stand for the seventh wicket almost took India home.
New Zealand were progressing serenely to the semi-finals, until they were up done in by their 2015 nemesis – Australia by 86 runs. A 119-run loss to today’s opponents duly followed. These didn’t seem to matter, as Williamson’s men showed lots of character and fighting spirit. Their celebration after the last wicket fell was muted. One could be forgiven for thinking that they had lost a close semi final.
Consistency has been the key word for New Zealand. From Glenn Turner, Geoff Howarth. Brendon McCallum down to Williamson, New Zealand has almost always sealed a semi-final slot. Will the brides-maid become bride this time?
England developed a stutter, and a wobble after a convincing start. A Roy-less England went under to Sri Lanka and so opened up the tournament. Even Sri Lanka had hopes of a semi-final berth, when England lost to Australia (they had earlier lost to Pakistan, too). However England had the quality and the character to play their best cricket when under the pump. It is no surprise that England have beaten all three semi-finalists.
England’s white ball game is replete with aggression. Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow have provided excellent starts-fast and exciting. The Mitchell Starc – Ray/Bairstow confrontation was eagerly looked forward to. But the English pair silenced the doubters with an opening partnership of 124. It was plain-sailing thereafter as Joe Root and Eoin Morgan (the latter, eschewing the hook) took the team to a comfortable win.
Australia’s goose was cooked after the excellent Jofra Archer and the admirable Chris Woakes had them wobbling at 14-3. The masterful Steven Smith and the consistent Alex Carey engineered a revival with a 114-run stand for the fourth wicket. Glenn Maxwell and Starc chipped in with contributions in the twenties. Adil Rashid came to the party with his mixture of leg breaks and ‘wrong-uns’ accounting for (and hastening) the middle order collapse.
Both teams have the momentum going for them. England, probably, will be psychologically more advantaged by their first round win over New Zealand. In Roy, Bairstow, Morgan, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, they have the men to put runs on the board in double quick time. Woakes, Archer, Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett will come along next to blast the batsmen out. This is a heady mix, and it should well suffice to give England custody of the World Cup after three unsuccessful efforts. Sadly, it would also condemn their opponents to second best once more.