300, 350 – even 400 – it all seemed within England’s reach when chasing. They made a mockery of that in more occasions than few.
So much so that the only way to challenge the Englishmen was to attack their bowling department, which is a little less formidable than their batting.
However, the fact that England prepared and invested all their resources in chasing mammoth totals meant that they forgot the formula of chasing trickier targets on insidious pitches.
At Leeds on a sunny morning, when Sri Lanka plummeted to 4/2 after opting to bat first, one could sense a massive defeat for them.
Although Avishka Fernando ushered a mini-revival by cracking some sparkling strokes, he was one of the two batsmen to miss out narrowly on a well-deserved half-century. Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews, after that, had a sluggish, but the partnership which set the tone for the total that proved to just enough.
Sure, England did let Mathews settle and scrape through to a half-century. But England never permitted the entire Sri Lankan batting line-up off the leash, limiting them to a gettable 233. And needless to say, that is not where they lost the game.
When Jonny Bairstow and James Vince walked out to bat, it was the latter’s chance to make a telling score in the absence of Jason Roy.
Not only that Vince failed to make a significant impact, but Bairstow recorded his second duck of the World Cup. But England still had little reasons to panic, for their most trusted lieutenants were at the crease.
It was down to Root and the skipper Morgan to the rescue mission. For a long time, England’s depth has been the talk of the town, however, seldom came into play. It got put to the test in the unlikeliest of the circumstances, and they were unsuccessful in thriving from it.
England’s Joe Root (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)
The bubble in which the English team were living was simple. If the openers won’t, the middle-order certainly will. If they fail, the finishers in Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, and Moeen Ali will make sure to leave no stone unturned to take the game deep.
In the rarest of those cases, if the trio is not able to take them over the finish line, the bowlers can stitch some valuable partnerships to steer the team to victory.
Nevertheless, the unprecedented depth was unproductive in saving the day for them. Although Jason Roy’s absence had hurt England and could jeopardise their campaign in the back-end of the tournament, they had enough batters in their armoury to ace the chase like they clobbered their way to 350-ish totals.
As much promise Vince has brought to the table, he has delivered that less in proportion.
But complacency had got to them. Not that England never erred in building partnerships, they did this time without their original intent. The gameplay displayed by the Englishmen was something quite unlike them (at least since they crashed out of the previous World Cup).
Understandably, it was for the reason that the side changed their approach; that the pitch wasn’t as easy as it looked to be and the Lankan bowlers hit the right lengths and bowled with cunning pace.
What to most fans looked like a target to be gunned down in less than 40 overs, wasn’t chased down successfully at Headingley. Undeniably, Ben Stokes threatened a jailbreak which in all disguise is an encouraging sign for the hosts, the brunt of the shocking defeat lies at their other batters taking the target far too lightly.
At the helm of it, was the issue of adaptability and the lack of subtlety that surfaced again in a chase which cost England the game. When Moeen Ali holed out on to the long off at 170-5 hitting against the spin, it was undeniably the most reckless of the shots from a player in his second World Cup.
Eoin Morgan’s men might not have a mission as gigantic as speculated to reach the semi-finals. Considering their dynamism and the ability to bounce back, England can indeed score wins over sides against who they have an underwhelming record in World Cups.
Sure, they have made matters shaky and vulnerable for them, but it is they who have to dig themselves out of the hole to achieve glory.
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