Posted by Either Brendon McCullum’s ahead of the curve on this one, or he’s found a brand new road to a very familiar destination. England have moved quite some way from one of Eoin Morgan’s central principles when it comes to putting together a one-day international (ODI) bowling attack.
“Pace just adds that little bit of uncomfortableness for the opposition, and allows the chance to potentially blow teams away and get on top,” said Brendon McCullum at the start of this white ball tour of India. “We’ll be looking to try and take wickets, and having that extra little bit of pace helps.”
Does it?
Eoin Morgan wanted a diverse bowling attack. He wanted fast bowlers, left-armers and all kinds of spin. He wanted options. Interesting options. Distinct options.
McCullum just picked an ODI attack with four right-arm quicks in it.
The other guys
Once upon a time, England made 481-6 against Australia. Not unreasonably, no-one paid too much attention to the bowlers in the team that day.
England played a fast right-armer, a left-arm swing bowler, an off-spinner, a leg-spinner and a Liam Plunkett (calling him a right-arm seamer doesn’t seem to do justice to Plunkett’s relentlessly armpit-focused old ball modus operandi).
That is a diverse bowling attack. Realistically, no matter how flat the pitch, you can most likely defend 481 no matter who you pick, but this attack was representative of those times and the ever-changing rhythms from those bowlers saw Australia bowled out for 239.
If the batters of that era were Samuel L Jackson and the Rock, causing eye-catching carnage and leaping off buildings, the bowlers were hot-tempered peacock Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell with his wooden gun. In their own weird way, they got a lot done.
Evolution
We’re told that white ball cricket evolves rapidly, but has it evolved to a point where it’s a good idea to wade into a 50-over game in India with Saqib Mahmood, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood and Jamie Overton, which is what happened earlier this week?
If that’s the case, it feels rather like we’ve reached the futuristic year of 2008, when England went into the first match of an India ODI tour with an attack built around James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison. They conceded 387-5 that day and then lost the next four games as well, before the Mumbai attacks saw the last two matches cancelled.
“Pace just adds that little bit of uncomfortableness” says McCullum – but you feel pace most keenly when it contrasts with something.
And honestly, how fast are most of those guys anyway? Wood is beyond slippery, but Atkinson, Mahmood and Overton? They’re faster than some, and each has some degree of potential to be faster than most on a good day. But on a bad day? On a hot day in Cuttack? We imagine once Wood’s got the adrenaline flowing, India’s batters don’t feel that much “uncomfortableness”.
The game before, England had gone with Mahmood, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse. Only three right-arm seamers on that occasion, but only really because they played fewer frontline bowlers. Rashid was, of course, in the team, but the fifth bowler was Frankensteined together out of Jacob Bethell’s medium-pace, Joe Root’s off-spin and whatever Liam Livingstone happened to be purveying that day.
If that’s the future, it feels a bit ‘Samit Patel and Paul Collingwood with a few overs from Kevin Pietersen’.
Back to the future
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; we need green, nibbly, seaming wickets or hard tracks offering plenty of bounce. Except where we’re going for the Champions Trophy is Lahore.
Neverthless, if McCullum’s calculations are correct, when England hit 88mph, you’re going to see some serious shit.
- But will Brendon McCullum get a literal new hat?
- Eoin Morgan – the captain who ignored everyone and gave England ambition
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Does Baz know the word ‘discomfort’?
If you’ve seen the fit on some of those caps, you’d think so – but we get what you’re driving at. We’re giving him the benefit of the doubt for now.
You’re not crazy (but McCullum might be)
Jamie Overton may in fact be the archetypal Engand ODI bowler.
Fast, but not actually that fast and not entirely clear whether he’s actually good.
Can bat, but definitely not good enough to bat at 7, but seemingly only being picked because he is batting at 7.
On the plus side, that all applied to Liam Plunkett mk1, so maybe it could work out.
Yeah, agree with most of that. We’ve no real issue with any particular selection, it’s more the way they’re pieced together into a lopsided whole.