Bairstow may have misunderstood coverage of England defeats but the opener righted a few perceived wrongs with his centuryThere was something utterly inevitable about Jonny Bairstow notching up a century against India, even if the celebration that followed it was, outwardly at least, less pointed than some might have expected.In Perth, during England’s doomed Ashes campaign of 2017‑18, he greeted three figures by butting his helmet – a nod to his infamous nightclub greeting for Australia’s Cameron Bancroft at the start of the tour. And in Colombo last year, when plonked at No 3 against his wishes and shorn of his beloved Test wicketkeeping gloves, came the beetroot-faced guttural roar. Related: Jonny Bairstow blasts critics ‘waiting for England to fail’...
More imaginative selections are required, fielding must be ruthless and Joe Root given a new roleEoin Morgan is a fearless captain but quite a cautious selector. His response to a limp display against Sri Lanka was to pick an unchanged team. Liam Plunkett, the master of the middle overs, has been sidelined. Tom Curran, England’s most incisive bowler of the past year, has become the invisible man. Either of them would take more wickets than Moeen Ali and probably make more runs than James Vince. Continue reading...
The 50-over game, and the game in general, is fast disappearing in England which would make finally becoming world champions in the format a little peculiar‘Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.’Jonny Bairstow knows what the problem is. Two days after the invertebrate batting collapse against Australia, six days after the invertebrate batting collapse against Sri Lanka, Bairstow spoke out this week. Some English people – journalists presumably; self-motivating strawmen definitely – don’t want England to win the ICC World Cup. This apparently is the problem. Related: India happy to move through gears and stick to usual World Cup script | Anjali Doshi Continue reading...
We managed to overcome their spin pairing in last year’s ODI series and at Edgbaston on Sunday we will need the right mindset againThe World Cup knockout stages have, in effect, begun early for us but as Eoin Morgan keeps reminding the players and supporters, our fate remains in our hands. Personally I see these final group games against India and New Zealand as an opportunity to be embraced not feared.The defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia have hurt us. Australia outplayed us in the first 10 overs of each innings at Lord’s and some days you can take losing to the better side. But the Sri Lanka game at Headingley is one that still eats away at us a...
Warning! This episode contains Australians. Geoff Lemon and comedian Felicity Ward join Emma John to discuss England’s third loss of their World Cup campaign at the hands of Aaron Finch’s side. Plus, cricket’s best bromances and Emma gets excited about the best game so far Continue reading...