T20 WC: Eoin Morgan’s England stem the flow with fluid bowling plans

At the heart of super-aggressive tactics that took them to the 2016 T20 World Cup final and the 2019 ODI World Cup title lies an ever-changing approach with the ball

England have come a long way since their line-in-the-sand moment on white-ball cricket, following a disastrous 2015 ODI World Cup campaign. In a short time, Eoin Morgan almost led the team to T20 World Cup success in 2016, Carlos Brathwaite stealing the thunder in a final over flourish in the Eden Gardens finale. They are reaping the benefits of that approach in this World Cup, racing ahead of most others with tactics high on micro match-ups against each opposition. It has built on their all-guns-blazing approach that took them to the 2019 ODI World Cup.

England players celebrate a wicket during the ICC Men's Twenty20 World Cup 2021 cricket match between England and Australia, at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, in Dubai on Saturday. (ANI Photo) (ANI )

T20 is a batter’s game they say. Who is to dispute that when Jos Buttler packs a punch the way he did against Australia on Saturday night, treating Mitchell Starc as if he was a rookie. Yet this has largely been a bowler’s World Cup so far on wickets that have been sluggish barring the rare instance of the pace picking up in the second innings when dew firms up the surface.

England seem to have identified their plans well in advance. Morgan had analyst Nathan Leamon for company in the KKR dugout in the two phases of IPL this year. Every other team would have been watching as well, but others don’t seem to have the same resources and tenacity to implement those ideas.

TRAPPING ‘EM EARLY

Powerplays are Test cricket’s equivalent of a new ball spell, perhaps even more because they cover 30% of the action. In the three matches they have won so far, the scores of England’s opposition after six overs read 31/4, 27/3 and 21/3. They have effected them with a different plan of attack each time. West Indies had three left-handers in the top order—Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer with Nicolas Pooran too coming in at six. So, they opened with the off-spin of Moeen Ali, who bowled through the powerplay against them. Leg-spinner Adil Rashid took more wickets in the opening game, but Ali set the match up in the first six overs. They maintained the same tactics against Bangladesh because they also had three left-handed batters—Mohammad Naim, Shakib Al Hasan and Afif Hossain, who batted at No. 6. Ali again did the early damage.

Next up was Australia, a right-hand heavy batting force, and Ali didn’t bowl. “It's just a reflection on my captaincy. The match-ups at the time didn’t suit. They do suit for some (of the batters), but they were already dismissed,” Morgan said after the match. “That's always communicated across all of the bowling unit. We try and adapt and talk about what might work on the wicket against different players, and today unfortunately he (Moeen) wasn't needed.”

Rashid opened the bowling and then they went pace heavy. This time it was Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan who won them the powerplay. Woakes hadn’t played T20 cricket for England for more than five years and doesn’t get to play too many IPL matches. With Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes absent, he was brought back and identified as the one who could benefit by bowling good lengths on the UAE pitches with the new ball. He’s taken four wickets in three games at an economy of 4.70.

Their highest wicket-taker has been left-arm pacer Tymal Mills (7). He was out of international cricket due to back issues returned and helped Southern Brave win the inaugural The Hundred this summer. He was brought back into the World Cup squad specifically for his pace and variation. England’s most economical bowler is part-time spinner Liam Livingstone, who’s bowled seven overs in six games as a sixth bowler at an economy of 4.28. Livingstone is a two-in-one resource who can effortlessly switch from leg-spin to off-spin. Sachin Tendulkar could do that, R Ashwin does it, but not to the same effect.

EXECUTION THE KEY

Virat Kohli while defending the limitations of his five-man bowling attack said it was more about execution. “It’s not that teams who have six and seven bowling options don’t lose matches,” he said. But England have shown that an extra trick here, a match-up there, can be game-changing and they do have a bunch of options.

England’s last two Group 1 games are against Sri Lanka (Monday) and South Africa (Nov 6) in Sharjah, where pitches have been sluggish. Expect Morgan and his brains trust to continue to think differently. “I don’t think you just have to have good spinners to do well at Sharjah. I think you need to have good seamers as well. During IPL we sort of did both. We had two really good spinners but we also had good quicks, and the wickets we played on had variable bounce that actually favoured the seamers a little bit more.”

The way England have come up with so many different bowling plans, while missing absolute match winners in Archer and Stokes, is a testament to Morgan’s refreshing methods. He couldn’t buy a run in IPL, and hasn’t got much batting time in the World Cup. That has not plagued his winning mindset.

England have free-flowing batters in Buttler, Jason Roy, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow with Morgan, Ali and Livingstone to follow—none of them worried about getting out. They nicely complement their bowling designs.