England’s openers stole the show but Liam Plunkett looks leading performer after return

Smash and grab | Liam Plunkett celebrates Virat Kohli’s wicket with captain Eoin Morgan
Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
Will Macpherson1 July 2019

It was Jason Roy who got England’s win over India off to the perfect start yesterday and the returning opener best summed up what they need to do next.

“Travel up to Durham, start again,” was his succinct assessment of the team’s next step in this World Cup.

Beat New Zealand at Chester-le-Street on Wednesday and England are semi-finalists — and likely back at Edgbaston, where they have now won 10 in a row across all formats.

England have had some lows in this tournament, but this was their latest high. The trick now is not following it with a defeat — as they did against Pakistan after an opening win against South Africa, or against Sri Lanka after Eoin Morgan’s century of sixes against Afghanistan. They were outclassed by Australia, but there was a complacent look to those first two defeats.

Surely, with so much on the line and following their hardest-fought win of the tournament, that will not happen again. Roy’s straightforwardness suggests not. To produce their most complete performance yet under such pressure was encouraging.

Morgan credited Roy and Jonny Bairstow’s plundering of 98 runs between overs 10 and 20 as the key contribution, but there were vital hands all around. The return of Liam Plunkett — who has played in none of the defeats — should be permanent; if England need Moeen Ali’s spin again, Mark Wood might make way.

Of Roy and Bairstow, who shared their ninth century stand in 30 innings opening together, with the latter becoming England’s fifth centurion of the summer, Morgan said: “They can make the wicket look flat at any stage — but it actually wasn’t.”

In Pictures | England vs India, Cricket World Cup | 30/06/2019

1/71

Ben Stokes, whose 79 was just his fourth-highest score of an outstanding tournament, agreed.

“The skill level, and the forceful figure of Jason back, he and Jonny feed off each other and when they start going they’re very hard to stop,” he said. “We thought they were making it look easy, but it was a difficult wicket to start on.”

Roy and Bairstow smashed eight of England’s 13 sixes, exploiting the short boundary towards the Raglan Stand, and ran India’s spinners ragged. In contrast, India did not manage a single six until MS Dhoni hit one in the final over.

When they tried, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya were all dismissed, either by fine bowling or brilliant catching. Plunkett, recalled after three games out, used his awkward length and subtle changes of pace to provide the middle-overs wickets — including Virat Kohli — for which he has become so highly valued.

Morgan said: “To come off the bench and maintain the form that he’s in is an outstanding effort from a very experienced player.”

The other senior figure in England’s attack shone, too. Surfaces have not always suited Chris Woakes at this tournament, but to start with three maidens — and get the wicket of KL Rahul — then return and dismiss Sharma was outstanding, not to mention his catch to see off Pant. “He’s a guy that goes unnoticed a lot of the time,” said Morgan.

England left themselves with two do- or-die games and have won the tougher one. They have been at their most vulnerable after impressive wins. Now it is time to keep their foot on the throat.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in