A Win In A No-Win Game For England As Rob Key Returns Looking For Answers
England finally secured a win in the WC on Wednesday [AP]
England have crashed in their wretched World Cup campaign from semi-finalists elect to wooden spoonists, scrabbling for the consolation of Champions Trophy qualification.
With the exception of India, most of the pre-tournament favourites have slipped on a banana skin or two ploughing through the group stages. These mishaps are a feature of World Cups and Afghanistan and Netherlands, perhaps unjustly ‘less fancied’, have raised their game magnificently to humble illustrious opponents. No giant killing has been more glorious than the Netherland’s thumping of South Africa in Dharamsala.
England for their part, far from slipping inadvertently on banana skins, have jumped on them with both feet, prat falling and self-destructing in increasingly ungainly fashion.
‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ was the ultimate no win situation facing Jos Buttler’s men in Pune against the Netherlands. A win for England, even in their current plight would illicit no plaudits, whilst defeat, even if now unsurprising, would mean further scorn and vitriol heaped upon them.
Remember, it was only in June last year that England were sending Dutch ground staff to all parts of the Amstelveen woods, balls launched there with joyous abandon by Buttler, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone.
Buttler struck at 185 in that series and Livingstone at 250. Conversely, Eoin Morgan faced the final international curtain of his epoch-making career without a whimper. Two ducks, the first of tarnished gold, were enough for Morgan to exit stage left and Buttler to assume the captain’s mantle.
But oh, how things change. As Buttler has struggled in India, anguish etched across furrowed brow, Morgan has returned like Banquo’s ghost, to haunt every painful misstep, most recently accusing Buttler and Mott of abandoning a sinking ship by sending out assistant coach Carl Hopkinson to face the media.
He has a fair point of course. That certainly did seem the act of a beleaguered team operating in siege mode. As the media desperately dived into Cricinfo to work out who they were talking to, even poor Carl was at a loss to explain why he had been put there.
Jos Buttler has had a horrendous World Cup [AP]
As it was, this game at least, went to a script envisaged by most ahead of the tournament, albeit with continued trauma for some of England troops, most notably Buttler himself. Ben Stokes, whose return to the ODI fold has been a distraction, proved why England also considered it a necessity.
As his team wobbled after their best powerplay of the tournament, Stokes seized the game by the scruff of its neck and played the perfect, defiant innings. He has pulled no punches in labelling England’s efforts as “crap”, but at least his 108 from 84 balls carried them from possible disaster to victory, that Champions Trophy place still within grasp. In all, he powered six fours and six sixes, most of which came in a thundering final ten overs that yielded 124.
As has been the way so far in the tournament where his runs have come at a modest 62 and no doubt acutely aware of his team’s plight, Stokes built cautiously, his first six only launched to carry him past 50, having just one tricky diving chance to Aryan Dutt.
Chris Woakes with 51 was a reliable wingman, their stand of 129 runs taking England to a 339 total that, barring the very worst of disasters, would be enough. Not that any England fan at the innings break would have discounted those disasters.
For the Netherlands, the early loss of O’Dowd and Ackerman to Woakes and Willey was compounded by a powerplay of just 23 for 2 which left them a mountain to climb that got only steeper from there.
The Dutch are not known as a mountaineering nation. Woakes and Willey, the latter still proving the dubious wisdom of England’s central contract strategy, never let their grip loosen which allowed Ali and Rashid to strangle any resistance with three wickets apiece. Gus Atkinson, showed there is learning needed, but equally didn’t crumble.
Finally, there was at least a relieved smile on the face of Jos Buttler, but his dismissal for just 5 was yet again down to the shot of a man not currently trusting his own powers. Root too, although taking a positive approach managed to nutmeg himself in the most ungainly manner, drawing further derision from the watching Morgan.
For Buttler, the frustration continues to be evident. Although a leviathan for Rajasthan Royals he is unable to crack the longer white ball format in India and is yet to make a 50 here in 16 attempts. An average of a meagre 12.9, scant return compared to an overall 40.
He and Mott will have extremely difficult questions to answer as Rob Key flies back to India for showdown talks before their final match against Pakistan. Jos Buttler insists, publicly at least, that he wishes to remain as captain and Mathew Mott’s contract runs through to the end of next year’s World T20.
Champions Trophy qualification is essential for England, offering vital experience for what one hopes will be a side refreshed with younger talent. Whether the talks between Key and his coach and captain prove a motivation or a distraction, remains to be seen. Meanwhile one suspects that Banquo’s ghost, in the form of Eoin Morgan, continues to haunt the dreams of all three.
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