NASSER HUSSAIN: Joe Root and Dawid Malan prove they can play in the same England team while Reece Topley bowls magnificently on his return for Jos Buttler’s side in 137-run ODI World Cup win over Bangladesh
- Joe Root and Dawid Malan put on 151 runs for the second England wicket
- England bounced back from a bruising nine-wicket defeat to New Zealand
- England hammered Bangladesh by 137 wins to record their first win in India
There was talk during the build-up to this World Cup that Dawid Malan and Joe Root couldn’t play in the same England team – but not from me.
I’ve never thought like that because when you analyse their strike rates, they don’t plod along. Far from it.
Malan strikes at 98 across his one-day international career and has been on a freakishly good run in 50-over cricket – so he has to play.
Then, you look at Joe Root’s record in India, his record at ICC events – he went past Graham Gooch as England’s leading run getter in World Cups during his 82 on Tuesday – and he’s not a cricketer I’m ever leaving out.
He scores at 87 runs per 100 balls too.
Joe Root passed Graham Gooch as England’s highest World Cup run scorer on Tuesday
Dawid Malan (left) and Root put on a 151-run partnership for the second wicket in Dharamsala
Opener Malan hit 140 from 107 balls in an innings that included 16 fours and another five sixes
Sometimes you can overcomplicate decisions on selection, and there are enough hitters either side of those two in England’s line-up.
You’ve got Jonny Bairstow at the top, then Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone later on, with Harry Brook or Ben Stokes. There are plenty of hitters, but class is class and both contributors to a 151-run stand for the second wicket inside 20 overs against Bangladesh are high-class players.
I thought the England top three got their tempo absolutely spot on here in Dharamsala.
Without really slogging at any stage, Bairstow, Malan and Root were exceptional, playing proper cricket shots.
And it set up the bounce-back win that England needed after defeat to New Zealand.
One thing about this Jos Buttler-led England side is that they are resilient, and when they do put in a poor performance, as they did in the tournament’s opening match, they analyse quickly and move on.
The change they made to the balance of the side – playing an extra frontline bowler – gave them a better look, especially with Chris Woakes not quite being at the top of his game at the moment, due to a lack of rhythm.
On his recall, Reece Topley was magnificent with the new ball at the other end, bowling that bail-trimming length, and getting the ball to swing and bounce from his extra height.
Jos Buttler’s side showed their resilience to bounce back from a thumping in their opening game
Reece Topley was magnificent on his return to the side after missing the New Zealand defeat
And it was exceptionally good captaincy from Buttler, a) giving Topley a couple of slips up front and b) keeping Woakes going when short of form and confidence.
He kept him on for the extra over when Woakes had bowled four overs for 34 at the start of Bangladesh’s chase of 365 and was rewarded with an outside edge in the fifth.
It looked like Buttler was balancing the need to win and win ruthlessly, keeping an eye on the net run rate, with getting some of his key bowlers back towards their best – Woakes, who claimed a second wicket with a cutter later on, in particular.
Topley’s inclusion took some emphasis off Woakes and Mark Wood. He is a multi-phase bowler: very good with the new ball, adept at switching to round the wicket and taking pace off in the middle overs and executing yorkers at the death.
With England in the last 12 months, whether you think back to the Ashes or the last Twenty20 World Cup where they lost to Ireland early, they tend to need to ease into things. It’s related to the amount of cricket that’s played, and what is asked of their main players.
Key bowlers like Woakes and Wood are either injured, or will get injuries, and so they need looking after, meaning England go into tournaments slightly undercooked. It was the same in the Ashes with Bairstow.
But it does mean that through a tournament they get better with every outing, and that bodes well.
The dominant win over Bangladesh highlighted Buttler’s (right) strengths as England’s white-ball captain
Both spinners Moeen Ali (left) and Adil Rashid could both be utilised on a spinning pitch like Lucknow, where England will face hosts India
Hopefully this progression will be carried on against Afghanistan on Sunday and into games against the bigger nations after that.
England’s ongoing selection dilemma has come down to a choice between the spin-bowling all-rounders Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone.
I understood why they went for Livingstone here. He ended the summer well for England with the bat, and also had some fond memories in Dharamsala from the Indian Premier League, after hitting 94 off 48 balls one game, but it is a spot that they will they will constantly monitor.
On a big spinning pitch, which you could get against India in Lucknow in a fortnight, I would go with the better spinner which is Moeen. They might even need both of them plus Adil Rashid.
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