NEWS
Follow UsEngland have finally found the momentum they were looking for in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign.
They chose to bowl first in Antigua against Oman, and their express pacers, Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, highlighted the huge gulf between the two teams when it comes to playing high pace.
Archer began the wicket proceedings for England and cleaned up opener Pratik Athavale and skipper Aqib Ilyas in quick succession. Soon, Wood did the same carnage from his end. Both pacers ended up with identical figures of 3/12 after targeting good and back-of-a-length areas and bowling consistently above 140 kmph.
England skipper Jos Buttler also gave them apt support in the field by having the fielders in the inner ring stand much closer to grab any mistimed shot from Oman batters.
Adil Rashid also joined the party by making full use of the turn available in the wicket and picked up four Oman wickets for just 11 runs, which is now his second-best spell in T20Is.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, skipper Ilyas was absolutely honest in his assessment of his team's standards and what went wrong on the day.
“Nothing much to say [on what went wrong], it is visible,” Ilyas said.
“We couldn’t do well with the bat. The top order couldn’t score runs throughout the tournament. It was good exposure, but there wasn’t much we could do. The bowlers didn’t have a chance with no runs on the board.
"We’re used to playing bowlers that bowl in the 130-140kph range in associate cricket. So it’s difficult when you play against bowlers bowling 150+ once in a year, there is something in your mind. It’s a different thing when you’re used to playing such bowlers.
"You don’t really see fielders so up (close) playing against associates. The batters were also under pressure, having not had runs in the last few games. Unfortunately, bad shot selection, and they bowled in good areas.”
With this loss, Oman’s campaign at the T20 World Cup has come to an end. They lost all four of their group-stage games. While the bowlers lifted the team on many occasions in these games, it was the batters who let the team down.
“You can’t blame the bowlers for anything,” Ilyas remarked.
“Throughout the tournament, they’re the ones who did really well. We would have liked to finish on a great note. We have a lot to learn from the big players. Usually, you don’t get to learn from top players, so this was a great opportunity to rub shoulders with them. We have to work harder, if you want to have an impact, you need to work a lot harder.”
Meanwhile, England skipper Jos Buttler praised his bowlers and highlighted the need for them to allow themselves a chance to boost their NRR during the game.
“The bowlers set the tone very well by picking up those early wickets and restricting them to that total,” Buttler said.
“I thought they bowled brilliantly. There was some extra bounce, thought they bowled really good lines and lengths. There was some spin, I don’t think any of us expected the surface to play like it did. Adil bowled exceptionally well.
"The message was to be ultra-positive. We spoke of taking our chances to boost our NRR. We know what’s going on in the dressing room, and there’s huge confidence.”
Before signing off, Buttler dismissed all concerns about the Scotland and Australia game, saying that the team would just focus on the game against Namibia on June 15.
“We can only focus on ourselves, we have a huge game up against Namibia, and our focus is on that,” the English skipper said.
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