Mohammed Shami celebrates with wicket of Moeen Ali.Credit:AP
Perhaps the contract wrangles had a bigger effect than imagined,or maybe Buttler is just not the man to lift a losing team,especially alongside a coach in Matthew Mott whose natural inclination is to defer to the captain and stay in the background. He is a bit like Trevor Bayliss in that respect,except he had Morgan as captain. The strong leadership of the Bazball Test team is markedly absent.
England rallied with the ball,Buttler making a brave call on “gut feel” by inserting India because he wanted to make them set a total for the first time in the tournament. Willey and Chris Woakes recognised the slow surface and dragged back their lengths,mixing up cross-seamers and slower balls to make scoring hard for India’s free-flowing players.
Willey landed the biggest of them all when he dismissed Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck and gave his all,chipping in with further wickets,dismissing KL Rahul to break a 91-run stand with Rohit Sharma in the first over of his second spell. He added Suryakumar Yadav just as he looked dangerous in the final overs. Woakes was much more consistent and Adil Rashid bowled with good control and turn to offer decent back up. Rohit was the danger man but even he could not find his range on a two-paced pitch,slowing up and falling for 81 when he holed out off Rashid.
This is a fine India seam attack,boasting three outstanding pace bowlers,and with England’s confidence so fragile,it would not take much to push them over,as became apparent after Bumrah made the breakthrough bowling Malan.
Mark Wood is bowled by Jasprit Bumrah.Credit:Getty Images
The Root dismissal next ball summed up England’s tournament. Bumrah angled one in and Root missed trying to work to leg and reviewed a plumb leg-before. This most level of sportsmen was raging when it was upheld despite a small flicker on ultra edge suggesting he may have got some bat on ball,but it was not conclusive enough to overturn the decision.
Bumrah was on a hat-trick but had to wait for the first ball of his next over,which Bairstow nervously played out. But it was brief respite as the big guns fell silent again for England. Liam Livingstone top scored with 27 but even his end was grim,reviewing an lbw that hit middle stump. Moeen Ali nicked Shami behind for 15 as his poor World Cup continued.
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This cannot go on. England must make changes against Australia and if that means axing one of the big names then so be it because blind loyalty is getting them nowhere.
The Telegraph,London
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