England’s men raced to a seven-wicket victory of extraordinary simplicity against New Zealand to send them off to Kolkata for their second WT20 final on Sunday having won against most people’s expectation in the Caribbean six years ago.
Now either West Indies or the favourites, India, who meet in Mumbai on Thursday, will look at England with some apprehension after the way they devastated the Kiwis here.
The target of 154 set by New Zealand was not so daunting though it might have been tricky but for a brilliant innings of 78 from 44 balls by Jason Roy. This was his highest T20 score for England and by the time he was dismissed only 44 more runs were required.
Roy is not one of those cricketers, who suffers from paralysis by analysis – another reason why he is so effective in the shortest format of the game, where trusting one’s instincts is often the key to success. “That was pretty cool”, he said afterwards. “This seemed far, far away after the first game [when West Indies, in the form of Chris Gayle, overwhelmed England].” Roy’s batting philosophy has a familiar ring to it. “I watch the ball and try to hit it, hopefully into the gaps.”
There has been much talk of the fearless, carefree approach of this England team and Roy seems to embody it precisely. “The boys were extremely chilled about this game. We just try to do what we do in practice. If it works, it works, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. There will be bad days and good days. We are not a big talking side. We allow the players to do what they feel is right.”
England did just about everything right on Wednesday. Roy was quick to focus upon the excellence of England’s pacemen, who restricted the Kiwi batsmen to 20 runs in the last four overs of their innings with Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan on top of their games.
“They were outstanding,” said Roy. “They gave us the momentum at the end of their innings and we carried that on. The bowlers have grown in confidence after the Sri Lanka match. It almost seems as if that was a practice session now.”
However, Roy made the chase a gentle stroll. He acknowledged that his innings was “right up there, pretty special” and that the team “is getting better with every game”.
“It will be an incredible experience in Kolkata,” he said. “And we’ll play our natural way – just as we have over the last 12 months.” A brief summary of the approach included a reference to “all guns blazing”.
For the New Zealanders there was an echo of the last World Cup in this defeat. Then, as now, they had played almost flawlessly through the group stages. Unfortunately their poorest performance came in a knockout match.
Kane Williamson, who has impressed everyone in the infancy of his captaincy, was philosophical afterwards. “Twenty20 can be a fickle game. It was not meant to be,” he said. “We were about 25 short but England bowled really well in the death period. And Roy was superb. Today we were up against a better team.”
Overall he was proud of the Kiwis’ performance in the tournament, during which their spinners had startled opponents at four different venues. The Kiwis had a tougher itinerary than England but Williamson was not inclined to complain about that.
Did he think that England could win the tournament? He paused and concluded: “Yes, I think England can win,” which excited Anglocentric observers who respect Williamson’s opinion. But then he added: “I also think anyone of the two other teams can win it. It’s whoever turns up on the day. There are a lot of uncontrollables but England are a very, very dangerous side, particularly on good surfaces.”
On the evidence of Wednesday England will turn up with a spring in their step and a determination to continue playing their free-flowing game.
