Hello Semi Finals

Not long ago, Sri Lanka were crowned World T20 champions. England were humiliated by Holland and sent packing. How things change.

The Sri Lankans are a shadow of their former selves. They’ve lost far too much talent over the last eighteen months and the guys coming through don’t look much cop. They rely far too much on Angelo Mathews, their only remaining champion batsman.

England on the other hand are slowly getting there. We’re not the most talented team in the world, but Bayliss’ team look a hell of a lot better than the rabble assembled by Ashley Giles. Ok, the bowling isn’t great, but there’s enough batting flair to make us competitive.

Although our batsmen didn’t play their best today, they did just enough. We recovered from the early loss of Alex Hales, and a somewhat conservative approach in the middle-overs, to post 171-4.

Jason Roy and Joe Root didn’t play as aggressively as we’re accustomed to, but they at least provided Jos Buttler with a platform for some late pyrotechnics. I reckon Mumbai will be quite pleased with their latest recruit.

Most observers believed England’s total was about par. Did you think we’d defend it? I couldn’t make up my mind. I don’t have much faith in our bowlers, but Sri Lanka’s batting has been incredibly fragile in recent times. I sensed that Mathews, as always, would be the key man.

Thankfully the nerves were settled when the Lankans crumbled to 15-4. How incredibly generous of them. David Willey once again picked up a couple of valuable scalps. However, things didn’t quite go according to plan thereafter.

Kapugedera and Mathews got their team back into the contest with some extraordinary hitting. Rashid and Ali were really given the treatment. They simply didn’t look up to the task. Fortunately, however, the seamers just about managed to stem the flow. Just.

Although it wasn’t easy, England have reached the semi-finals. Hurrah! That in itself is an achievement for an inexperienced team playing in alien conditions.

Will we win the trophy from here? I severely doubt it. Our bowling probably isn’t good enough. Having said that, you’ve got to be in it to win it. And England are very much still in it. T20 is a funny old game.

James Morgan

13 comments

  • Ha !
    I successfully put the reverse mockers on SL:
    https://www.thefulltoss.com/england-cricket-blog/mo-to-the-rescue/#comment-28228

    It’s interesting how dependent our bowlers’ performance seems to be on the state of the wicket. Some matches the spinners have it; some the seamers. They never seem both to fire in the same game.

    While we’re not favourites, any of the teams in these finals has a chance, and England has players who could do it. Roy; Root; Buttler; Stokes…. even Jordan appears to have rediscovered how to bowl effectively on occasion.
    The thing I’m unhappiest about is Morgan’s lack of form which threatens out momentum mid innings. I’d be batting both Stokes and Ali ahead of him.

    • Mogs hasn’t been his fluent best but I thought he had a decent knock today, better than recent efforts! 22 off 16 in support of Jos, before having a slightly unfortunate run out, not bad at all. Let’s hope he can kick on in the SF against NZ (?)

      • Agreed – except that at this stage a decent effort ain’t enough. And up until today he’s been pretty dismal.

        It’s not that he’s terrible, rather that whoever comes in at five has to be extraordinary, and I don’t think Morgan is anymore. I’d really like to be proved wrong.

    • Yeah I saw the tweet. Poor for a Saturday night. They reckon the IPL gets 18,000.

      We’re in the Semi Finals now. We can win it from here, we’ve enough talent.
      We play NZ on the same pitch.

      • That’s interesting (that it’s the same pitch). NZ have successfully strangled batting sides with spin, but it seems that on this pitch spin can be targeted. It evens up the match a little. Maybe we’ll see the first appearance of Boult and Southee.

        • NZ will certainly bring back Milne for Nathan McCullum from the team that played Bangladesh. That would give them four seamers (counting Grant Elliott as a seamer) and two spinners.

          I don’t think there’s any chance they’ll play Southee. If they recalled Boult, who would they leave out? Not Santer or Sodhi, for certain – perhaps Corey Anderson?

          • It’s also worth remembering SL’s main spinners, Herath and Vandersay, were quite effective. It wasn’t as if every spinner in the match went the distance.

    • Nottingham get more than that for the NWB. Who said Indian fans like T20 cricket? Pathetic.

  • T20 is very much a game about the ability to hold your nerve and make good decisions under extreme pressure and find a way to win.

    England don’t seem to be the best team in the tournament, I’d say they were about 5th or 6th, but they do seem to have an ability to win closely contested games. As long as 2 out of 4 of the top order, middle order, pace attack and spin attack fires, we generally have enough to win.

    A lot of these players have a lot of T20 experience now, far more so than the players of other nations. Someone like Jason Roy for example has played over 100 list A T20 matches, more than the New Zealand captain.

    • If were 5th or 6th, who are the best 4?

      To me a team is when everyone contributes, not just 1 or 2.

    • England have had four close games and won three of them. The knack of coming through these edge of seat affairs is very valuable.

  • My main issue is with our bowlers. You can see at least one of the spinners getting some serious tap, and if one of the others does too then we are in serious trouble.

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