World Cup Final Here We Come

I won’t ask you to boot up your phone and laptop cameras, but I wish you could see the beaming smile etched across my face. There’s nothing better than destroying / obliterating / absolutely tanking the Aussies, and to do it in a World Cup semi final is all the sweeter.

England were brilliant today and Australia were woeful. It was the complete opposite of the group game at Lord’s. What a difference three weeks makes.

Now I’m afraid I’m not qualified to discuss the minutiae of today’s game. As bad luck would have it I was unable to watch a single ball. In fact, I’ve been indisposed all week. However, I was following with bated breath on my phone – imagining each wicket, picturing every boundary.

When I eventually managed to turn on the radio at 5.15pm I managed to catch the winning run. My immediate thought was “what a superb atmosphere”.

England love playing at Edgbaston and I love watching England play there. The crowd, who are always absolutely brilliant, are raucous, passionate, and bloody inimitable … especially when we’re playing our canary feathered friends.

England should play the first test of every Ashes series at Edgbaston; just like the Aussies always play the first test at Brisbane. The crowd always give the players a huge lift. It’s a fortress.

Please correct me if I’ve got any of the below incorrect but it sounded to me as though the bowlers won England this game. Archer and Woakes exploited the early movement brilliantly and Rashid and the others kept our metaphorical boot on Australia’s throats throughout. Only Steve Smith was good enough to resist.

When it came to the batsmen they were never really under pressure. The Aussies seamers failed to attract the same movement from the surface that England enjoyed early on, and once Roy and Jonny got motoring the result was never in doubt. It’s always a good idea to chase small totals with a positive mind set. Well done lads.

England now approach the final with all the momentum in the world. Everything has gone their way of late – they’ve won the tosses that were good to win, and today they lost a toss that proved extremely good to lose – and we’ve taken our opportunities brilliantly.

All champion teams have this ruthless streak. What’s more, the fact we’ve finally won a game batting second will send a rush of confidence and swag coursing through the team’s veins.

New Zealand, who have never won a World Cup either, now stand in our way. And I strongly fancy us to beat them. England have been the best and most complete team in the tournament thus far (with the possible exception of India) and we simply don’t have any weaknesses.

Nor do we rely on one or two players too much – although Jason Roy has clearly emerged as our talisman. It sounds like he played superbly again today and has probably played himself into England’s Ashes plans.

Roy and Bairstow to open in the Ashes? It’s a stupid idea but it may well happen. And it may well be the best combination (or least bad combination) we’ve got in the absence of a Cook, Gooch, Atherton, Stewart, Trescothick, or any other test quality opener. Rory Burns can bat 3.

Anyway, I’m probably getting a little delirious now. And the sober me will probably be ashamed of the ‘drunk on canary dunking’ me in the morning. So I’d better leave you now. And I’ll do so with one final thought.

Get the **** in! World Cup final here we come.

James Morgan

39 comments

  • England should play the first test of every Ashes series at Edgbaston; just like the Aussies always play the first test at Brisbane. The crowd always give the players a huge lift. It’s a fortress.

    I quite agree. And for similar – and many other – reasons, England should NEVER play at Cardiff !

  • Gr8 show by England. Played like champions but kiwis will be a formidable opposition

  • Thanks for that James – I can imagine it.
    Classic “good toss to lose”, I think. Carey also batted well for the Aussies, but that was about it. Woakes and Archer were brilliant at the top; Plunkett a bit less so.
    Jonny Bairstow needs to rethink his reviews – I’ve rarely seen anyone plumber. It would be ironic if Roy agreed with the review, as it prevented him from reviewing his appalling out decision later on.

  • And just heard that Sky have allowed the match to be covered free to air on Channel 4!

    • Thats good news. Will have an alternative to TMS to listen to when Cook starts going on about his sheep again.

  • Excellent performance! Nothing gets the juices of an Englishman flowing like wiping the floor with the Aussies! I’ve been ambivalent about the ECB XI before, but not when they’re playing Australia. C’mon boys!

  • Sorry to hear you weren’t able to watch it James. I was in the fortunate position of being able to watch every ball bowled and it was magnificent. From England’s point of view there were many highlights but I got a lot of pleasure watching Steve Smith bowling his single over.

  • My hero was Woakes. The Aussies had found him difficult to bat against in the game they won. And so it proved again. Woakes was very unlucky in the first game with misshits not going to hand and the ball whistling through the batsmen. This time same brilliant bowling with those chances going to him. But knocking back middle stump was justice at last.
    Was surprised he didn’t bowl his 10 overs. Can’t think why not. He bowled 8. He still took a wicket at the end and bowled superbly. Commentators often ignore him. Undervalued they admitted so it was wonderful he was man of the match. Roy was robbed of going for his ton by a poor umpiring decision and Bairstow losing England’s one review. It is a habit of opening batsmen to use up the Review. It was not a hope in hell Review. Morgan needs a word. England thrashed the Aussies. How satisfying was that!!!!

    • I was particularly pleased for Woakes. I often feel that he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

  • A great performance all round, only marred by Roy’s display of dissent. I understand his disappointment but I did not hear any comment from him when he gloved the ball against India and was given not out. It should have been treated as a level 2 offence and the fine would have been 50-100%. Level 1 is for fleeting dissent such as hitting the ground or wickets on dismissal. Arguing with the umpires and holding up play must be level 2 or we may as well give up trying to improve behaviour in local league cricket.

  • Yeah!!!! At last we have real positivity, Not sure about your ‘bowlers won us the match’ though James. This implies the total was a foregone conclusion to chase. Agree we were great with the new ball, but they did recover with a hundred stand for the 4th wkt and rather gave it away after that with a succession of poor shots, exposing what we know about this Aussie side, after Smith there’s not a lot there except the superb Carey. Im sure England couldn’t believe they picked Hanscombe, for me he’s a beaten man at this level.
    I know we’re not a one man band but if any one player won is the match it’s Roy. He inspires the batsmen to be aggressive an take the initiative from the start, especially Bairstow. Their power play was negated by Roy’s attitude and clearly all the bowlers were intimidated with his approach, especially Lyon, not being able to bowl how they wanted. At the moment his presence is akin to a Botham, where batsmen often seemed to play all around straight balls. With Roy bowlers seem to be drawn into either a macho contest or safety first. In any event they end up bowling to his strengths. Once we had yet another 100 opening stand the Aussies were a beaten side. It’s just a shame his dissent spoiled it rather. Hopefully he won’t be banned for the final, but it was a petulant show that should bring some penalty.greater than a mere fine.
    This crushing defeat must be putting doubts in the Aussie minds for the Ashes. This is a long tour for them and if they get off to a bad start it could easily unravel. I’m sure we’re looking to that in our preparations.

    • Absolutely agree the Ashes – given their frailties here, can’t wait to see them up against Jimmy with a shiny new Duke in his hand. Even the gun players like Smith and Warner haven’t the greatest record when it’s moving around.

    • The chase wasn’t a forgone conclusion but it was a low target to chase. We merely needed to avoid losing early wickets, and we did that with aplomb.

      • ‘Merely needed’ to is no gimme against that attack. If Roy and Root had gone in that power play are you confident we would have got the runs? Roy was the catalyst here, scoring twice a quickly as Bairstow. Even his defensive shots against Stark, probably the most dangerous bowler in the tournament, were aggressive and intimidatory. At the moment has a similar effect on proceedings as Botham used to. It’s of the ‘you may get me out but you’ll never dominate me’ school. This is the way this England side play and it’s dictated by his approach at the start of our every innings. Even Morgan has become noticeably more aggressive as the tournament’s progressed and yesterday Root was similar in his attitude not merely to win but to step on the Aussies whilst they’re down. I’m sure he saw it as a chance to get one up on our Ashes chances. This is all dictated by Roy at present. Who knows this time next year his bubble may have burst, so let’s celebrate him now. Those 3 successive sixes off Smith were designed to make an in your face statement more effective than any of our bowlers.

  • Yes great win, without too much slogging this time. Not to be pessimistic but it seems largely to hinge on a big opening partnership. If the NZ seamers bowl like they did against India….could be interesting. Finals can be a damp squib, hope this isn’t, especially it’s on Ch 4. Big moment for cricket.

    • I think with most teams making of large scores depends on them not losing early wickets. India and Australia have accumulated big scores on the backs of large opening stands and also lost matches after losing early wickets. It’s not something England alone do.
      It’s hard to see where New Zealand’s large totals are going to come from whether they bat first or second, as neither of their big guns, Williamson and Taylor, scores at a great rate and their big hitters have yet to find any consistency.
      Worth repeating this World Cup has averaged less than 4 sixes an innings, hardly a slog fest.

  • Being as and INDIAN , my choice for final was always INDIA vs ENGLAND before tournament stating on. but INDIAN team could nt manage kiwis and its ENG vs NZ Now

    I wish english win their first ever world cup title

  • Australia has won four out the last five world cups finals. Should England win their first one this time around, does English cricket have the capability and stamina to match that record. The spotlight has been on this tournament for a number of years, I wonder if that will be sustainable once this tournament concludes or will things regress……enjoy the moment.

  • Some finer detail, Carey and Smith were trotting along nicely and there was talk of Morgan having to bring back Archer and Woakes at a time he wasn’t planning to. Then Stokes came on to bowl and whilst you won’t find it on any match report, he tied them up nicely. Alas, it forced Carey to play the shot that got him out having batted so well. Archer and Woakes could now be brought back to finish the job after Rashids magic rather than as a panic measure to remove Smith/Carey. The little things…..

    Roy’s dismissal was a disgrace. Not the umpiring ( we all know the Aussies are adept at intimidating Kumar) but Roy’s reaction. Had he had the presence of mind to wander down the pitch to Bairstow and say “you must be joking to review THAT” a few overs earlier then he would have had the DRS to save him. But once he realised the game was up he should have buggered off, it works both ways mate..

  • This is going to be taken as vindication by the ECB for all they’ve done in the last five years (probably longer). Expect more of it in the future. Is willy-waving for a day or two at such Aussies who are paying attention really worth it? It’s divide-and-rule and it’s as old as the hills.

    As for Australia, for the third richest team to get to the SFs in an away WC is about par. They have some pluses (Finch’s leadership and Carey being the two new-ish discoveries) and some minuses (the all-rounder berth, the white ball spin options, the failure to get the best out of Maxwell, question marks about Langer’s strategy). Their priority is the forthcoming home T20 WC.

    Anyone seen any articles saying England’s success is all down to the CC, the Royal London Cup or the Vitality Blast? No, neither have I. Funny how failure is always blamed on the domestic structure but it is never praised in success.

  • Jackie L and John I agree with what you both say about Woakes.
    It didn’t matter in the end that he didn’t get the chance to bowl his 10 overs but in the next match it might be an idea if he could remind his Captain that during the game how many overs he is still able to bowl
    Having never been in Morgan’s position I wonder if anyone can tell me how difficult it is for the Captain to work out how many overs each player has left to bowl.
    .

    • I think Woakes would have bowled his 10 overs if Morgan had not found himself with 9/10/11 at the crease in the last 3 or 4 overs. At that point I think he felt Woakes subtleties would be less relevant and force was better. I am a huge Woakes fan, but sometimes I think that the better the bat, the more effective he can be.

  • Well I’ve decided and backing NZ. Used to live there. Would love them to win. Few “stars” but work together very well as a team. Unassuming, no loud mouths, no hype just get on with it. Let’s have a good seaming wicket please. I really think if they can get Roy and Bairstow early the Kiwis stand a good chance. Apologies if I’m a bit unpatriotic.

    • The problem is apart from Williamson and Taylor no ones scoring any runs for them. The bowling is pretty decent but England have so many potential match winners I can’t see how New Zealand can score enough runs, whether they bat first or second. It’s going to take a major ‘Boult’ of lightening to upset England’s thunder, (sorry about that) Hopefully there’ll be a fair few black cap supporters there to give the game a sense of occasion, otherwise it could become a disappointing spectacle on and off the field and this in such a great tournament in term of atmosphere and competitive cricket. With an average of around 4 sixes an innings and only a handful of big sores it can hardly be described as the slogfest on roads that wa predicted.

    • The problem with preparing a bowler friendly wicket, apart from it being against the spirit of one dayers, which are clearly designed to favour the batsmen, as most punters prefer to see runs over wickets.
      When you prepare a wicket for a one dayer you are looking for it to be as similar as possible for both sides. Under-preparing undermines this, as you will either get, depending on the amount of rain or sun, the wicket deteriorating or settling down, so conditions are altered in favour of one side and the toss becomes critical. This is also one of the reasons the white ball is designed to swing less than the red Duke, so the weather, with cloud cover and humidity changes has less effect, minimising the advantage of winning the toss. During a test or county game you have days for the vagueries of the weather to even out the luck, with a one dayer you have hours and so a much greater chance of luck favouring one side or the other unless you do all you can to create a good lasting pitch and a ball that doesn’t respond much to changes in overhead conditions.

  • Are there any UK viewing figures available?

    0.9m were watching in Australia during the middle of the night.

  • This was one of the more humiliating thrashings of Australia since the famous occasion in 1956 at Old Trafford when “ten little Austrailian boys were Lakerered.one by one”

  • So England win on the farcical boundaries rule. That is like declaring the side who played out the most dots in a tie as the winner. Might as well declare the side who benefitted from most umpiring howlers the winner / loser, because honestly, dot 4 is just as good as 2 2 .

    With the help of an extremely lucky deflection in the last over of the innings. With the help of Marais Erasmus who cannot give a reasonable LBW first up (Roy), but can give Taylor out when the ball would comfortably have missed the stumps..

    Anyway, congratulations England, may you enjoy the orgy of self-congratulations from the ECB and its lackeys in their proud quest for the destruction of the domestic game. Because they will not be stopped.

    Oh and congratulations to India for winning the World Cup in 2023, as they’ll be the fourth home side in a row to win it.

    • Surely there was time for a second “super over”? (or even a third, and so on). I feel very sorry for NZ – the 4 overthrows (though Stokes did nothing wrong) and the boundaries rule….

      • …though home-favouring conspiracy theorists would have expected a flat track that our “bullies” could exploit.

  • Both sides deserved to win this. Exciting yes ,but it was a tie. This is a 50 over game not 52. What on earth is this super over nonsense? I can’t recall seeing this used in 50 over. Are they going to use it in a tied test or a Championship Game? I doubt it. Well done England anyway, but it’s a bit hollow for me.

  • It was a hell of a game with plenty of flaws and and could have gone either way.
    I hope we will be gracious in victory because we had our share of luck.The press is buzzing,
    people are buzzing – but will we learn from 2005 when the authorities utterly failed to to recognise
    the wonderful opportunities? The answer is almost certainly ‘no’.

  • Pleased to win, but a rule change is essential. A ricochet off a bat or batsman from a return throw should be called dead ball from the moment of contact.

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