It can be rash and hysterical to conclude after England’s opening defeat by New Zealand in Ahmedabad that the world champions’ bid to win a second successive World Cup is in disaster. There had been loads of mitigating points, not least the absence of Ben Stokes and the lack of genuine match preparation in India. That has lengthy been the gamers’ choice and they’ve tended to enter each sequence, house and away in all codecs just lately, positively undercooked. Remember how shaky they had been of their first innings in opposition to New Zealand in 2022 in Stokes’ first match as long-term Test captain, or once more in opposition to South Africa at Lord’s following a white-ball break or in opposition to Ireland in the World T20 or, certainly, at Edgbaston and Lord’s in the Ashes.
They often discover a method to come good and immediately, even on the decidedly dodgy Dharamsala outfield, they’ve the excellent alternative to get their bandwagon rolling.
And but, though England beat Bangladesh in final March’s ODI sequence, Shakib Al Hasan’s aspect had been properly value their victory over India at the Asia Cup final month and he and the off-spinner Mehidy rattled by way of Afghanistan of their opening match on this floor. If the pitch permits flip once more, they’d pose way more issues for England’s hitters than Messrs Santner, Ravindra and Phillips who lured 5 batsmen, all of who had performed themselves in, to their doom on Wednesday.
Any repeat of that tentativeness, in going for expansive photographs however with out totally committing, messing up their timing with uncharacteristic confusion, and they are going to come one other cropper. The downside with the batting – leaving no less than 60 runs on the market – was nothing in contrast with the pat-a-cake high quality of their bowling. The lack of swing rendered Sam Curran after his opening spell and Chris Woakes all through eminently tonkable. Mark Wood regarded rusty and lacked rhythm, the spinners had no scoreboard strain to bolster their defences and the dew affected their grip and rip. But allow us to not neglect that the finest figures recorded on an ODI at this Himalayan idyll had been Suranga Lakmal’s 4 for 13 in 2017, when he decreased India to 28 for six, and Tim Bresnan’s 4 for 45 10 years in the past. So nip relatively than swing and spin can serve England properly. It must be excellent for Reece Topley.