64 2GM Wednesday November 10 2021 | the times
SportT20 World Cup
For Eoin Morgan and this, his, England
team, a historic opportunity awaits. The
combination of the pandemic and a
third format muscling itself into the
schedule has put more of an intense
focus on international white-ball
cricket than at any stage in the game’s
history — a shift that has coincided for-
tuitously with the best one-day England
team of all time. Morgan stands two
matches away from a World Cup double
that no one else has achieved.
The potential for an even more splen-
did legacy awaits. Think, for a moment,
of the period in between the 50-over
World Cups. Two years after 2019, here
in United Arab Emirates, there is a T20
World Cup. Next year, in Australia,
there will be another. The year after, in
2023, the next 50-over World Cup in
India arrives. Four World Cups in five
years; in other words, an unprecedent-
ed opportunity to establish a reputation
as a truly dominant one-day team.
Morgan is 35 years old. He gave him-
self a little time after the 2019 World
Cup to commit to the job and has said
publicly that he cannot see himself
playing in the 2023 World Cup in India.
The 50-over game is more gruelling
than T20 and more likely to expose age,
physical and technical shortcomings,
but he has sounded optimistic about
next year’s T20 tournament in Austra-
lia. Another successful World Cup here
would surely encourage him further.
While much was made of the age of
West Indies’ team in this competition,
England were marginally older by aver-
age age when the two teams met in
Dubai for the opening game of the
Super 12 stage. West Indies’ subsequent
struggles have highlighted the difficul-
ty in managing decline and moving on.
As yet, though, there appears no signifi-
cant stagnation in the general physical
conditioning of these England cricket-
ers nor, crucially, in their desire for
improvement.
Many of the key players are in their
prime. Moeen Ali is 34 and Adil Rashid
a year younger — spinners coming to
their peak years slightly later than
others; Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairs-
tow are 32; Jos Buttler and Jason Roy
are 31. Ben Stokes is 30 years old and
Jofra Archer is 26. Joe Root, 30, will
come back into the reckoning for the
next 50-over World Cup. For the next
two years, England should have a solid
nucleus of world-class limited-overs
cricketers to call on.
Before we get carried away, we
should acknowledge that England’s
opponents for the semi-final, New
Zealand, could make exactly the same
argument, not that they tend to brag
about their achievements. But there are
eight players here who were involved in
the World Cup final of 2019, and a solid
core who won the World Test Champi-
onship final in England in the summer.
They, too, have an opportunity to
Eoin Morgan has called on his depleted
England side to draw on their resilience
once more to find a way to defeat New
Zealand in today’s T20 World Cup
semi-final in Abu Dhabi.
England are two wins away from
becoming the first team to hold the T20
and 50-over World Cups simultaneous-
ly but Morgan is focused solely on beat-
ing New Zealand, which he said would
be a “hell of an achievement” given theRoy is irreplaceable but
injury problems that have affected his
side. Star players and long-term absen-
tees Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer were
never in contention and Sam Curran
was ruled out before the start of the
competition. To compound matters
their leading wicket-taker, Tymal Mills,
and Jason Roy, their experienced and
explosive opening batsman, suffered
tournament-ending injuries.
“If you look right from the very
beginning of our selection process
leading into the World Cup, we’ve got aElizabeth AmmonEngland Age M Runs Bat avge SR Wkts Bwl avge Econ rate
Jos Buttler (wkt) 31 87 2,111 34.60 141.48 — — —
Jonny Bairstow 32 62 1,177 26.75 137.01 — — —
Dawid Malan 34 35 1,198 41.31 137.22 1 27.00 13.50
Eoin Morgan (c) 35 112 2,424 28.85 137.57 — — —
Liam Livingstone 28 13 235 29.37 165.49 6 22.66 6.47
Moeen Ali 34 43 478 16.48 135.02 28 27.17 7.99
Sam Billings 30 31 413 17.20 129.46 — — —
Chris Woakes 32 15 98 24.50 148.48 13 30.07 7.74
Chris Jordan 33 70 296 14.09 132.73 79 26.36 8.54
Adil Rashid 33 67 60 6.66 80.00 73 23.09 7.35
Mark Wood 31 18 11 — 84.61 26 22.57 8.69New Zealand Age M Runs Bat avge SR Wkts Bwl avge Econ rate
Martin Guptill 35 107 3,115 32.44 136.50 0 — 11.00
Daryl Mitchell 30 20 273 19.50 135.82 5 22.00 9.85
Kane Williamson (c) 31 72 1,931 32.18 122.91 6 27.33 8.33
Devon Conway 30 19 556 50.54 141.11 — — —
Glenn Phillips (wkt) 24 30 591 29.55 143.79 2 28.50 7.60
James Neesham 31 34 370 23.12 156.11 20 27.05 8.99
Mitchell Santner 29 57 343 14.91 126.10 62 22.66 7.30
Ish Sodhi 28 62 78 13.00 108.33 81 21.08 8.00
Tim Southee 32 88 249 11.31 143.10 106 24.58 8.22
Trent Boult 32 39 28 5.60 73.68 57 20.85 8.17
Adam Milne 29 27 21 — 91.30 30 23.56 7.53Umpires Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and Marais Erasmus (South Africa).Probable teams for today’s semi-final in Abu Dhabi
Different strengths
- but two sides with
claims to greatness
Mike Ather ton
Chief Cricket
Correspondent,
Abu Dhabicreate a special legacy over the next
two years.
New Zealand’s strong record in 50-
over and T20 World Cups puts
England’s into the shade. They have
reached the semi-final stage of these
tournaments on 11 occasions in all,
which is matched by Pakistan and beat-
en only by Australia. Time and again,
New Zealand arrive well prepared and
ready to play to and beyond their
potential. With India and Pakistan in
their group it was by no means a given
that they would make the knockout
stage, but they have proved themselves
once more and have given themselves a
chance to redress the defeats by
England in the 2019 final and semi-final
of the 2016 World T20.
If both teams arrive in Abu Dhabi
confident, with only one defeat apiece,
then they do so with slightly different
strengths. England bat long and deep
and are happy to sacrifice an extra
bowler. They look to play ultra-
aggressively with the bat, and back
their boundary-hitting potential in a
high-scoring game. Their particular
strength is a fearless opening partner-
ship and a big-hitting middle order of
Liam Livingstone, Morgan and Ali, who
acts as a floater to take advantage of
favourable match-ups.
New Zealand’s stronger suit is bowl-
ing, especially since Devon Conway has
taken the wicketkeeping position. The
new-ball combination of Tim Southee
and Trent Boult is highly skilled, very
experienced and versatile. Adam Milne
brings pace in the absence of the
injured Lockie Ferguson. Mitchell
Santner and Ish Sodhi are the spinners,
but they took a back seat to the quicks
in New Zealand’s only outing in Abu
Dhabi, against Afghanistan, and will
be wary of England’s left-handers,
Morgan, Ali and Dawid Malan.In the field, England are rarely out-
done, but they were ragged against
South Africa, and New Zealand have
been outstanding. Conway has taken
two great catches, one in the deep and
one with the gloves; Daryl Mitchell
pulled off a spectacular save on the
boundary against Afghanistan; and few
patrol the outfield with more pace and
intent than Glenn Phillips. Through
smart bowling and aggressive fielding,
New Zealand aim to restrict opponents,
to allow their world-class anchor, Kane
Williamson, who has been struggling
with an elbow injury, to control matters
with the bat.
That the match is in Abu Dhabi, a ven-
ue generally regarded as offering the
best batting conditions in the region,
may play to England’s strength. So far,
New Zealand’s batsmen have operated
in the comfort zone of lowish-scoring
matches, but Abu Dhabi offers the op-
portunity for England to stretch that re-
quirement. So far, some of the highest
scores in the tournament have been
at this venue: India made over 200
against Afghanistan: Sri Lanka
and Pakistan have made scores of
189 here. The night-time dew factor re-
mains an unknown and the bigger
boundaries will at least offer some pro-
tection against England’s power-packed
batting.
It is often the case, in this part of the
world, that the opening powerplay dic-
tates events to a large degree. One key
aspect of the game will be the contest
between England’s new opening part-
nership (likely to be Buttler and Bairs-
tow) and the new-ball combination of
Boult and Southee. Bairstow has yet to
get going, shackled as he has been by the
lack of opportunity. Outstanding one-
day batsman that Roy is, Bairstow is at
least his equal, and England are not
weakened by the change.Jos Buttler has scored 240 runs
already this tournament and
needs only nine more to
eclipse the England batsman
with the best return at a World
T20: Joe Root in 2016. The most
by any batsman was Virat Kohli’s
319 in 2014. Injury to Jason Roy
means Buttler will have a new
opening partner today — probably
Jonny Bairstow — and their battle
with the New Zealand bowlers Tim
Southee and Trent Boult will be
crucial. Southee has struggled in
recent T20s against England, taking
only four wickets in his past five.bFour key
areas to
decide the
match
Openers’ battle
with pacemen
England v
New Zealand
World T20 semi-final
Abu Dhabi, 2pm
TV: Sky Sports Cricket1
Jos Buttler
(England)