For all the record-breaking feats of their whirring thunderbats at Trent Bridge, it was England’s performance at Headingley on Thursday evening that was probably the more instructive for the team’s management as they plot a course for next summer’s Champions Trophy and the World Cup in 2019.
Eoin Morgan’s side sit fifth in the world rankings, a position that owes much to what came before their last 18 months of one-day cricket and one that will not change if, as looks likely against a forlorn opponent, they go on to complete a 5-0 whitewash over Pakistan in Cardiff on Sunday. However, were a global tournament to start on home soil on Saturday, their batting form would see them talked about as favourites.
It is certainly impressive. Since the last World Cup, where they suffered a group stage humiliation to make Cersei Lannister’s walk of atonement look like a stroll down the high street, the 711 fours and 157 sixes that have flown from English willow are some 155 fours and 49 sixes higher than the next best sides, while their 16 centuries in this time are four more than South Africa’s 12 in second place.
Even when the numbers are broken down to averages per completed match, given only Zimbabwe have played more fixtures since 1 April last year, they still lead the way across all the boards bar clearing the boundary, with New Zealand averaging 6.09 sixes per innings to their 5.4. No team scores more quickly than England’s 6.34 runs an over, nor has any team averaged in excess than their 41.54 runs per wicket. And, of course, no international side has ever plundered more than the 444 for three posted in Nottingham on Tuesday.
Yet England, for all this statistical drool, are still second behind the world champions Australia in their win ratio over the past 18 months and, if they are to break their duck in 50-over silverware over the next three years, then tournament cricket – and knockout cricket in particular – will produce likely scenarios in which they will need to get down and dirty with an opponent, rather than merely swinging from the hip.
It is here where Morgan, the coach, Trevor Bayliss, and his assistant, Paul Farbrace, will likely have felt the four-wicket win at Headingley offered more value than the firework display on Trentside. On Thursday England chased down 248 from a perilous 74 for four in the 15th over through a controlled display of batting from Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow in their 103-run stand, before Moeen Ali’s unbeaten 45 from No7 negotiated a situation that, on another day, could easily have disintegrated fast.
Certainly Morgan noted the benefit after the match, saying: “I think our best is good enough to beat most sides. But when we are off, it is important other guys fall in behind and today proved that. Losing wickets early puts you back quite a bit. But guys who have not had an opportunity to contribute throughout this series stepped up.”
Stokes, for whom one-day cricket has been a slightly hit and miss affair thus far, demonstrated maturity in the run chase with his 69 from 70 balls, not least because he would have been itching to go hard after being next man in during the Trent Bridge butchery. “Ben is a hugely talented player but very aggressive too,” Morgan said. “The more he plays the more he finds his own tempo. We encourage him to explore that because it is important he feels comfortable with the way he bats. Today was a gem of an innings.”
Bairstow’s calm half-century as a late replacement for Jos Buttler was another reminder of how a side’s strength can be judged by those who cannot get into the first choice XI and, while England no doubt benefited from the cramp that saw Mohammad Irfan fail to follow up his impressive initial five-over burst, Moeen’s assured completion of the job was a feather in his cap in his unaccustomed role as a lower order finisher.
On a turning pitch, another positive to be gleaned from the low-scoring affair was Moeen’s two for 39 with the ball, in tandem with Adil Rashid’s three for 47, both for the confidence it will give them before tours to the subcontinent this winter and when compared to Pakistan’s two spinners sharing figures of one for 104 from their allotted 20 overs. England’s fielding – far from perfect in a dominant series – was also markedly improved.
Sunday’s fifth and final match in Cardiff is their final home ODI before the road to the Champions Trophy begins next May and so, while lusting for another Trent Bridge-style mauling may be the preferred option for spectators, another tight and competitive affair like that witnessed in Leeds may not be the worst thing for a side still with experience left to bank.
