England Crush The Opposition
One thing that I think can be overlooked is how much of a team sport cricket is. Yes, one or two individuals are always capable of battering the opposition into submission, the same as in any other sport, but at its best, cricket requires all eleven players (or somewhere close) to turn in a good performance in order for a team to do well. However, and this is one of the reasons that I don't like the T20 format as much, increasingly the game is dominated by individual batting performances, as a batsman can hit 100 in 50 balls and make everything academic (and the narrative in these cases usually but not always involves but also ignores a level of poor bowling).
And even when we see refreshingly team efforts, as we saw yesterday, it's usually the batsman who takes all the credit, much as the goal-scoring striker does, even when the entire back four does its job perfectly. But for me, it's as much a credit to the bowlers as it is to the batsman that its the sole batter who gets the man of the match, because it's impossible to pick one bowler out of a terrific team display, whilst only one batsman lit up the stage.
If it seems like I'm digressing into a general grumble about the underappreciation of bowlers in T20 and how the format allows individual talent to overshine the team element of it, well there's a reason for that, since that seems to be exactly what happened in both of yesterday's T20s. First, Fran Wilson scored an excellent 43 as England's women set a very defendable 138 and then Jos Buttler scored an admittedly magnificent 73 from 49, as England chased down a pitiful score of 140. Now as I've already hinted at, Buttler and Wilson didn't win England their respective matches, but they did make the margin of victory reasonable, as our women won by an impressive 35 runs and England comfortably chased 140 with eight wickets and 15 balls to spare. However, you can't give the man/woman of the match award to *takes breath*: Brunt/Sciver/Hazell/Knight/Ecclestone/Gunn or to *another deep breath*: Jordan/Mills/Dawson/Plunkett/Rashid.
If it seems like I'm being slightly facetious, I'm not. I do think there's a case for giving young Liam Dawson (who took 3-27 on his home ground on debut) man of the match, as his spell turned 58-1 into 82-5 and absolutely demolished the Sri Lankan upper middle order, which was the reason that England won this match.
But my overall point is this: there were standout individual performances in these matches, but the victory was secured by the whole team, and it was really refreshing to see, and really frustrating that the narrative will be all about individual batting performances. Anyway, starting with the women. Wilson anchored the innings, and with support primarily from Winfield and Sciver, after big hitting Tammy Beaumont was wrongfully given out LBW (no reviews in T20s). And 138 looked a decent total, but England's bowlers made it look like a horribly big total.
As I've already suggested, this was a colossal team effort from the girls. Every single bowler took a wicket, even Heather Knight who only bowled one over took 1-9. And other than Knight, only one bowler, Katherine Brunt, bowled over the required economy, taking 1-30 from her four. But all of the figures are impressive: 2-16 for Sciver, 1-15 for Hazell, 17 year old (and still in school, seriously it's crazy) Sophie Ecclestone taking 2-26 and Jenny Gunn the highlight with 2-7 off her full contingent. Wickets across the board, tight bowling across the board. It must have been a nightmare for Pakistan, every time they saw off one bowler another one came in and took a wicket, refused to concede runs. Only Javeria Khan got any traction against Brunt before being edged out by Knight. But throughout the 20 overs Pakistan never got anywhere near the 138 England set.
And it's a very similar story on the guy's side. England bowled Sri Lanka out for 140, a score that looked about 50 below par, considering the par score on the pitch and the amount of power in England's phenomenal batting line up. As already mentioned, Dawson's 3-27 was crucial at the top of the order, but England kept it tight from the off, Mills going at only 5.5 per over, Rashid at 6.25 and Plunkett taking 2-27. Even Jordan, England's highest conceding bowler (due to his position of opening and closing the bowling), ended up with 3-29, conceding just over 7 an over. The point is that nobody got hammered. If you're going to score higher than 7 an over (which is a woefully easy target to chase if your batting is as good as England's is and the bowling is as mediocre as Sri Lanka's is), then you need to hit at least one bowler hard and nobody got hit.
The other thing that needs to be mentioned is, once again, the fielding. Danny Wyatt secured a phenomenal run out in the first over for the women and both Vince and Roy pulled off some fantastic fielding to get England two run outs, which could easily have been more if the umpires had been alert.
But all the plaudits go to Buttler and he does deserve them. With Roy and Vince falling early, one or two nerves may have started to creep in. But Morgan and Buttler controlled the game and controlled the rate. Morgan finished with 47 from 39 but Buttler plundered a strike rate of almost 150, including four sixes, without ever looking like he was breaking sweat. If it looked like a risk to have him opening the batting in the absence of Hales, he laughed off those suggestions with a terrific display of batting.
But as I began this post, it's all about the team. And yesterday we saw two terrific team displays.
Euros Semi-Final Previews
Portugal v Wales (8pm)
This is a tough one. Wales are riding the wave of jubilation and plaudits and a lot of people are (rightfully) making them favourites for this semi-final. Both of these teams have got through the knockout stages by absorbing pressure and hitting hard on the counter attack, something that Wales have managed to do more efficiently and more dangerously, as they bludgeoned Belgium, but Portugal were able to neuter both Croatia and Poland, two good footballing sides. So it all depends how Portugal come at this game. If they're smart, then they can do what they've done in the previous two matches, sit deep, frustrate Wales (who we've seen struggle when forced to take the initiative and dominate teams) and hit them on the counter. But Portugal might feel that as the "bigger team", they have to be the ones to go at Wales, to try and do what they did in the groups. And well you saw how well that went in the groups. It would completely play into Wales' hands. So tactically speaking, we know what Wales are good at and what they're going to do, the question is just over Portugal start the match. But if Wales start with a high intensity, and get at Portugal early, they can cause them real problems.
Prediction: 2-1 Wales
Germany v France (8pm Thursday)
I think Germany will win. I've already discussed how interesting the tactics of the French will be, but I think they're in trouble either way. If they set up to make the game tight and tactical, then they'll lose their fluid attacking play that is their strength, and that will favour the Germans. But if they go 4-4-2 and attack the Germans then the Germans will tear them a new one on the break. Quite simply, I think the Germans have a superior defence, a superior midfield, and have goal-scoring options. The only thing that will work in France's favour is the injuries and suspensions in the German team. Hummels in defence is a big loss but Howedes and Mustafi are more than capable of filling in, and slotting Gotze or Muller up front has worked before for Germany and will work again. I personally am hoping to see Emre Can in and bossing the midfield, but they may opt for Dortmund midfielder Weigl instead, who is no slouch himself. As for France, Kante has to play, whatever formation they line up with, or they stand no chance.
Prediction: 2-0 Germany
The Hard and Fast Section
- Serena and Venus through to the quarters.
- Murray and Federer in action today. Tasty.
- Messi probably avoiding prison. Yikes.
- Pakistan's bowlers look toothless. Good news for England.
No comments:
Post a Comment