After The Trauma of Ahmedabad, England Find Serenity At Home of Dalai Lama
England defeated Bangladesh in their second match [AP Photo]
Whilst there will have been no panic after the thumping by New Zealand in Ahmedabad, England will none the less have been desperate to show resilience as well as to double down on their attacking intent in Dharamsala.
After comfortably defeating Bangladesh there yesterday, they will now descend from the tranquil surroundings of the Himalayan foothills and head to the more bustling urban surrounds of Delhi, where Afghanistan await. Whilst two convincing England wins in the only two previous ODIs between the teams will count for little, heading there on the back of a resounding victory will put a spring in the step of the defending champions.
Dharamsala is one of India’s most sought out spots for ornithologists with an abundance of birdlife, but England will be acutely aware that one World Cup swallow does not make a summer.
Especially as this particular swallow will have been swooping on diving over the venue that is arguably the best suited to England’s style, the rarefied air allowing the ball to travel and the pitch offering some encouragement to seamers throughout. However, a win, as they say, is a win.
Despite concerns about the Dharamsala outfield, where the winter rye grass is scattered to protect it from the lower temperatures, England more than mastered both the conditions and their opponents. In Dawid Malan and Reece Topley, they had the game’s two outstanding, match-winning performers.
Malan, the destroyer
Malan became the oldest England player to score a Cricket World Cup century and he did it in explosive style. There were no concerns on this occasion about a slow start or tardy progress. At the age of 36, he struck five sixes and 16 fours in his 140 from 107 delivers, driving England towards a dominant total of 364 for 9. England’s previous oldest World Cup centurion, Graham Gooch, will undoubtedly have been looking on approvingly.
The persistent back spasms that cost Jason Roy his place in this World Cup may have created opportunity for Malan, but he has looked more than capable of filling the upfront striking role that that Roy performed in 2019 with distinction. In eleven ODI innings this year, Malan has amassed 745 runs at 74.5 with four centuries and three fifties. In the Himalayan foothills, he chose his time to peak superbly.
England will be irritated at the failure to really build on the dominant platform they had built. Thanks to Malan, a confident Bairstow and a masterly Joe Root, they found themselves on 266 for 2 with the best part of 15 overs still to face. A crushing 400 plus score seemed a genuine prospect, but 7 wickets fell for 98 runs, the last six of those for 68 as England fell short of that 400 summit.
Full marks to them for recognising that seam rather than spin was needed at Dharamsala however. The selection of Topley at the expense of Moeen Ali, proved to be match winning master stroke. Touching 30 himself and with a troublesome injury record that suggests longevity at international level may be an unlikely luxury for him, Topley is clearly keen to make the most of his opportunity in India.
Yesterday, the tall left armer’s four wickets were well earned with bounce, swing and variation. This was no tail end tidy up, but a demolition of the Bangladesh top order that included two in two balls to rip out Tanzid Hasan and Hossain Shanto for just one run between them. That was followed almost immediately by pinning back the off stump of the talismanic Shakib for just one further run.
From there, any recovery for Bangladesh never looked likely. Indeed, their belief that they could create one seemed to be somewhat in question as their intent appeared much more geared to minimising net run rate damage than it ever did to hauling in the England total.
The second frustration of the day for England will be that they did not finish the job quicker with the ball, but that may be a harsh judgment given the fine efforts of Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim and Towhid Hridoy. Alas for the Tigers, there was little further support for them, whilst Topley was backed up by a bowling attack that, whilst by no means perfect, found it’s range to much greater effect than it had at Ahmedabad.
Positive changes from Ahmedabad drubbing
Mark Wood, particularly, was an entirely different proposition in Dharamsala. Ten overs for just twenty-nine runs and just two boundaries may have been in conditions more conducive to his pace, but some rustiness had also been worked off in Ahmedabad and was no longer in evidence here. Chris Woakes and Sam Curran, by contrast, took three wickets, but also were noticeably more expensive in doing so. In Delhi, one or the other may well be in line to sit out the encounter with Afghanistan.
There was one other entertaining footnote to this match, courtesy of England’s utility all rounder Liam Livingstone whose performance was golden but not entirely to his and England’s advantage. He fell for a golden duck to a Shoriful off cutter, held a sharp chance at point to remove Hossain Shanto for a golden duck and then, for good measure, removed the stubborn, if not adventurous, Towhid Hridoy with his very first delivery, providing his maiden World Cup wicket.
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