Nobody sums up the riddle of this England team better than Will Jacks
New Zealand 159 - England 161-6
Another excruciating finish for England – only this time, with semi-final qualification secured, the tension could be savoured. After Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed looted 44 from 16 balls in Colombo, England clinched an unlikely victory against New Zealand, thereby securing top spot in Group Two.
The upshot was to extend England’s remarkable run in T20 cricket to 16 victories out of 18 since Harry Brook took over as captain last summer. The streak is all the more extraordinary because, during a series of tetchy performances this World Cup, one central question has remained unanswered: how good are England, really?
More than anyone else, Will Jacks embodies the riddle. As England’s number seven, and on paper their sixth-choice bowler, Jacks is insurance that a fully-functional team should not need. England are not that team; and so they need Jacks. This is the paradox of the man who, ahead of more storied names, has now become England’s most valuable player in the World Cup.
“Ideally, I would do nothing,” Jacks reflected. “I’m kind of at some stage the extra bowler and the extra batter. If I didn’t bowl and didn’t bat, we’d have had that perfect game that we keep speaking about. So, it’s a bit of a seesaw there, because obviously I want to do stuff, but at the same time if I’m doing nothing and we’re going to win.”
Instead, England are winning because Jacks is doing something. Actually, a lot more than something.
In Colombo, Jacks was named player of the match for the fourth time in this World Cup campaign. Should England put together two more victories, convincing or otherwise, he is on course to emulate Sam Curran’s journey in 2022: from role player to player of the tournament.
Against New Zealand, Jacks relied upon a familiar template. With the ball, he exploited a used pitch that offered marked turn, taking two for 23 from his four overs. Both his victims – Finn Allen, flicking to midwicket; and Glenn Phillips, clean bowled by a sumptuous delivery from around the wicket – were right-handers, which continued a trend of his tournament.
Six of his seven wickets so far have been right-handers; his height and drift is such that his off-spin is not only viable against left-handers, as Brook recognises. All told, England bowled 16 overs of spin, their most ever in a T20; unusually for an England captain, a hallmark of Brook is his faith in slow bowlers.
With the bat, Jacks once again arrived with England facing strife. Both openers perished within the opening eight balls; Jos Buttler’s expression, after edging Lockie Ferguson behind to fall for a duck, was of the hangdog variety once again. When Curran was caught by a full-length dive from Phillips, England were marooned on 100 for five after 14.3 overs, needing another 60 from 33 balls.
This World Cup, Jacks has tended to feast on pace. But with the R Premadasa Stadium offering sharp turn, Jacks recognised that he could not wait for the seamers to return. Against his fourth delivery, he reverse-swept Ish Sodhi for four over backward point.
With England needing 43 from the last three overs, he recognised the need to target Phillips’s off-spin. Jacks ended the over with three emphatic blows – a heave over midwicket for six, a straight drive for four and a pull through square leg.
After another scruffy performance, England’s moment of victory felt apt. Jacks missed an attempted pull off Matt Henry, but the ball deflected off his helmet grill and scurried away to the boundary.
Perfection can win tournaments. Yet normally, less glamorous virtues suffice: continually summoning the resourcefulness to scrap through tricky situations. Jacks’ brisk undefeated 32 was the latest exhibit.
In the final throes, Jacks was supported by Ahmed. Playing his first game in a global event, slotting in for Jamie Overton because of the conditions, Ahmed needed the sum total of one ball to get his first wicket: Rachin Ravindra pulled a googly, dragged down short, to midwicket. While Ahmed erred too short on several occasions, he only conceded 10 when unexpectedly summoned to bowl the final over of New Zealand’s innings.
England have always been drawn to Ahmed’s leg-spin, yet many consider his batting to have even higher potential. Brendon McCullum might well agree. Before Ahmed came out to bat, McCullum – who was stationed in the dressing room, while the batsmen were in the pitchside dugout – sent a message to him via the team’s walkie-talkies. The head coach jokingly compared Ahmed to India’s virtuoso straight ball-striker Virender Sehwag.
“Baz actually sent one of the walkie-talkie things downstairs, saying ‘tell Reh to bat like Sehwag’,” Ahmed explained. “Yesterday in training on a similar wicket, I was just trying to play that certain way.
“I was trying to hit sixes straight because the role I’ll be in the team will be similar to the way I’ve trained for that.”
Ahmed batted as he had trained for. First, he charged down the wicket to his second ball, launching Phillips for an emphatic straight six. Then, with England needing 11 from seven balls, Ahmed used his feet again, clearing long off against Mitchell Santner.
After taking two for 28 from three overs and then looting 19 not out from seven deliveries, Ahmed emphatically vindicated his selection. Yet he seems unlikely to retain his place for England’s semi-final, which is likely to be at the more pace-friendly Mumbai.
For all England’s delight, beating New Zealand – and thereby topping the group – could be a mixed blessing. The most likely semi-final opponents in Mumbai now loom as India, who will secure second place if they beat West Indies on Sunday. The daunting challenge of trying to topple the hosts will, perhaps, finally reveal how good England really are.
[Source: Daily Telegraph]
