It would be daft to get too excited at England grabbing their semi-final slot days before anyone else. This does not guarantee a romp to the final and then the trophy. But the current climate makes a change to the agonising postmortems that accompanied England’s early flight home from the 2015 World Cup.
The margin of New Zealand’s defeat in Cardiff – 87 runs – was misleading. After 30 overs of their run chase the Kiwis were 156 for two in pursuit of 311; Kane Williamson, after some early scares, was cruising with Ross Taylor in his wake. There was no sign of an imminent capsize.
The New Zealand captain looked serene, rarely inclined to play a shot that involved risk, which was why Morgan had turned to the nearest he has to a “shock” bowler, the galloping Mark Wood. He needed a wicket badly. Then the ball misbehaved, bouncing steeply and flicking Williamson’s glove; Jos Buttler took a testing catch safely.
It may be that Morgan had a bit of luck since treacherous deliveries cannot be summoned up to order like pizzas. But from this moment on England did not require any luck. Morgan and his bowlers did not miss a trick.
The next batsman was Neil Broom and for the first time in the match a short leg was posted. Morgan must have noticed how Williamson had stared at the treacherous spot on the pitch before departing like a man betrayed. Here was the Kiwi captain suggesting that the fates were against him and his side.
That short-leg fielder was unlikely to take a catch but he was delivering a message to Broom. This surface was no longer to be trusted; the ball was popping (there was some truth in this since both Williamson and Taylor had been disconcerted earlier in the innings); more importantly there was no harm in reminding the new batsman of this. England were now hunting for wickets rather than containment.
There was a message here for Morgan’s pace bowlers: bang the ball into the pitch not at bouncer length, which was the policy employed by New Zealand when bowling from that end in the second half of England’s innings, but just short of a length, preferably using the cross-seam method. Then something might happen. Somehow the ball seems to grip the surface when bowling cross seam at Cardiff, a handy discovery by Stuart Broad a year or two ago, which had been dutifully passed on.
From here Morgan was in control on a day when the little things were counting for something – like the decision to give Jake Ball the first over; he had been carted for over 80 in two of his last three outings. But Morgan wanted him to start in place of Chris Woakes, an expression of confidence in someone who was considered a borderline selection before the game. How did Ball respond? With a wicket and two maidens and ultimately the man-of-the-match award in a game when there was no obvious recipient.
The other borderline selection was superb. Rashid obviously has not been sulking since his omission against Bangladesh. The suspicion is that Morgan must have convinced him that this was no slight on his ability or temperament. The conditions were nasty for a wrist-spinner: a gusting wind, a pitch offering little turn, those much-mentioned short, straight boundaries. Yet Rashid has seldom bowled better for England; there was barely a bad ball; the googly was employed frequently, which can be a sound indicator that his confidence is high.
In the field Morgan attacked adroitly throughout (not just with his brief dalliance with a short leg). With the departure of Williamson Morgan kept his seamers going and the asking rate started to climb; a less confident captain might have slipped on his vulnerable spinner immediately to shed the remaining four overs required from a slow bowler. In any case Morgan had faith in Rashid.
So for 20 overs on a blustery Cardiff evening England were brilliant. But it was only 20 overs. They must get better and contemplate whether a change of personnel is required. No prizes for the next name to surface: Jason Roy. The advice is echoing around. Some advocate that he should be more circumspect, that he should try just to bat some overs before elaborating.
That sounds like poor advice to me and I suspect this is the last thing Morgan will be saying to him. Roy is in the side because he is prepared to bat in a maverick manner at the top of the order. That is what England want him to do. He has neither the temperament nor the technique to play like a proper, old-fashioned opener. So if selected, he must be allowed the freedom to continue playing his way.
Whether Roy should continue to be selected is another matter. It would be convenient for England if they could play Roy and Jonny Bairstow on Saturday. However, England are likely to be hellbent on playing their best side even in a “free” game. After all, the opponents are Australia.
