England’s captain said his bowling attack skilfully defended a “par or below par” total against New Zealand in Cardiff
Eoin Morgan had high praise for his bowling attack after England’s 87-run win over New Zealand in Cardiff sealed top spot in Group A.
The Black Caps looked to have the edge mid-way through the second innings but Mark Wood’s dismissal of Kane Williamson opened the floodgates, as the final seven wickets fell for 55 runs, with Liam Plunkett taking 4-55.
“Guys like him [Wood] are so valuable to the team,” said Morgan. “And you can't leave any of our bowlers out. I thought they did an outstanding job. They were truly the highlight of the day. Our batting performance was probably par or below par. So pretty average. So I thought the bowlers today as a collective unit were brilliant, really.”
Williamson’s third-wicket partnership of 95 with Ross Taylor appeared to be taking the game away from England but with his bowlers looking threatening Morgan was always confident the breakthrough would come.
“I thought we were a bit unlucky. Throughout that partnership, I thought Kane and Ross played well, but we still sort of created half chances where a diving catch or a ball just going to hand wasn't too far away.
“And I think given the matches that we've played against South Africa recently where we've turned games around – the game in Leeds where [Hashim] Amla and Faf [du Plessis] got going, and we managed to take two wickets quite quickly and the Southampton game where we pulled it out of the bag out of nowhere – it breeds a bit of confidence.
“With the inconsistency of the pitch, I thought if we genuinely did take one, we would take two.”
Adil Rashid impressed on his recall to the side, taking 2-47 from his 10 overs, and Morgan said the leg-spinner’s good record against the Kiwis was key to his selection.
“He's always bowled well against New Zealand. I'm not sure why that is. But certainly his confidence is high against their side. I think having a fully fit Ben Stokes helped that decision as well.”
Even with a semi-final berth now secured, Morgan said there would be no let up from his team when it faces Australia at Edgbaston on Saturday.
“We never take any position that we've ever been in for granted. I think if we're truly going to be contenders for this tournament, we need to beat the best teams. And Australia are one of the best teams. They always are going into a white-ball tournament. They seem to produce limited-overs cricketers at will. So to go into a game like that with no other attitude than winning is very important to us.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand must defeat Bangladesh in Cardiff on Friday, and hope that Australia doesn’t beat England, in order to qualify for the last four.
Kiwi skipper Williamson said he thought his team “had a sniff” at the halfway mark and admitted his dismissal on 87, to a venomous short ball from Wood that fizzed off the pitch and took his glove, was a pivotal moment in the match.
“It bounced a bit more than I expected and hit my glove. It happens. It's a bit frustrating, because we were getting a little bit of momentum with the bat. It would have been nice for Ross and myself to be able to take it further and bring it down to that 10-an-over mark where anything can happen.
“I think it [the surface] changed a little bit. But certainly England bowled very, very well, the way they extracted it by [bowling] cross seamers hitting the wicket hard. They're all big lads, and they pretty much hit that six-metre length and created a little bit of variability out of the surface and didn't give us much at all.”
It was announced after the match that Williamson has been fined 40 per cent of his match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate, with his players receiving 20 per cent fines.
“We're certainly trying our best,” he said. “But it kept sort of getting away from us a little bit, especially when you're under pressure and the batsmen are trying to take you down.”
Article first published on www.icc-cricket.com