Bleary-eyed, the circus heads to Bristol, scarcely believing what has just happened. The old certainties have been uprooted. As we sleepwalk over the Clifton Suspension Bridge, always a dangerous journey, we have to pinch ourselves. Is this a dream or a nightmare? No, it is true: England did manage to defeat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets at Edgbaston with a record opening partnership in a victory triggered by some superb bowling by an English-born leg-spinner. And the Super Series has been secured. Hang out the bunting.
But there is a problem. The series now lacks context with the Super Series decided. This concerns the administrators and exercises the minds of broadcasters and correspondents, who want to stress how important Sunday’s ODI remains. In fact for the dogged old punters, who actually sit in the stands, this will not matter so much. They want a bit of sunshine (not guaranteed unfortunately) and an entertaining day out at the cricket.
England are entertaining and unpredictable. They can be 82 for six and almost reach their target of 287 at Nottingham. Two days later they finish the game with more than 15 overs to spare at 256 for nought. There is something to be optimistic about.
In particular this applies to the performances of Adil Rashid. In the first two games Rashid has, by a substantial margin, been the most economical bowler on either side. In his 20 overs he has yielded just 70 runs, picking up two important wickets at Edgbaston. He is becoming one of Eoin Morgan’s most reliable bowlers, which represents significant progress.
This is not entirely down to Shane Warne. But it is intriguing how Warne is drawn to Rashid and excited by his progress. The shy Yorkshireman is hardly likely to chase the world’s greatest wrist spinner around the outfield in pursuit of some nuggets. The leg-spinners’ union is one of the smallest in cricket but it is tight-knit. As Rashid explained after the match at Edgbaston, he had a chat with Warne before the first game at Nottingham.
“We had a general talk about leg-spin,” said Rashid. “He gave me tips and stuff. It was more bumping into him. It was good to see him and good of him to give me a few tips. Helpful.”
Rashid then expanded a little. “It was about the basics. Keeping it simple. Bowling the same ball, ball after ball and letting natural variation take over – from the hand and the pitch.”
Coming from someone of Warne’s stature, this is excellent stuff. Warne was a wonderful propagandist about his own bowling, talking up all his own variations and inventing a few along the way (remember the “zooter”?). This was all part of the spell. In fact he could be quite a conservative bowler; he certainly recognised the virtue of being parsimonious, of frustrating his opponents by denying them any easy runs.
Too often there is an excess of armchair talk about spin bowling, demanding more variations in pace, flight and modes of delivery. Think of all the guff about Monty Panesar needing to slow down and give the ball more air or how Moeen Ali should mesmerise with his doosra. The great spin bowlers have a very good stock ball, which they keep repeating time and time again and they bowl no rubbish. And, of course, they have a few variations, but not as many as they like to pretend to opponents.
Increasingly it seems Rashid understands this and to have Warne’s confirmation is indeed “helpful”.
There are other England players enjoying this series. Neither Liam Plunkett nor Jason Roy have been pulling up many trees while playing at county level this summer. Yet when reunited with an England shirt they have prospered. Both have excelled in two disciplines, Plunkett with bat and ball, Roy with bat and in the field.
It is hard to imagine anything other than England marching on to victory in this ODI series with three more games to play, especially since Sri Lanka’s two most dangerous batsmen, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, were limping ominously at various stages at Edgbaston. So expect England to prevail with one proviso: it seems that the so-called experts – or even the bookies – are not always right in their predictions.
