Having impressed us all with some scintillating performances in this summer’s ODI series against New Zealand and Australia, England’s new-look one-day squad faced an intriguing four match series in the UAE. They were to come up against a dangerous Pakistan side, who could boast a number of potentially lethal spinners.
A comprehensive 6 wicket defeat in the first game of the series, a consequence of an early batting collapse, meant you could have been forgiven for entertaining the idea that this young England squad might struggle: but boy did they turn it around. They rediscovered the explosive style that we saw all summer, going on to win the series 3-1 and heap the pressure on Pakistan as they bid to secure their place in the next ODI World Cup.
Here are FIVE things we learnt from an English perspective…
- BUTTLER. IS. BACK.
… And in some style too! The story of Jos Buttler, in all forms of the game, has saddened and frustrated England fans. Having announced himself on the international stage with some destructive and lethal batting at the back end of England innings, he has recently looked lost and clueless in his search for big scores. He was given a break over the summer, but seemingly to no avail as he struggled in the test series too, but his performances in the penultimate and final ODIs have left us all in no doubt now that Jos Buttler is well and truly back.
A comfortable, and seemingly simple 49* in the third match took us over the line to take the lead in the series chasing a meagre 209 for victory. This was followed by a quite outstanding match-winning 116* from 52 balls, in a jaw-dropping knock that included 10 fours and eight sixes and left us all relieved, delighted, and licking our lips once again at the prospect of this hugely talented 25-year-old.
- The new ball is in safe hands.
Whenever a new England ODI squad gets announced for an upcoming series, the more critical spectator tends to target our bowling attack as a point of weakness, especially in the pace department. With the experience and talent of Stuart Broad and James Anderson now concentrated solely on test cricket, the selectors have been tasked with the challenge of finding their replacements in one-day cricket, and I believe they have taken a big step towards that goal.
Ever since Ryan Sidebottom left the set-up, they’ve been looking for a new left-armer to fill his boots, and you have to say that in David Willey, they must have found one. He swings the new ball, which makes him a very consistent wicket taker early on, and his passion for the team is incredible, just as Sidebottom’s was. Reese Topley was also given a chance in this series, and he has been superb too, not to mention Chris Woakes, who builds pressure with his persistent accuracy, and was rewarded for that in this series by being the series’ leading wicket taker with eight scalps. Having all three players in form throughout the series, meant the wicket-taking burden was shared, and it enabled England to form a relentless attack that the Pakistani batsmen had no chance of getting on top of.
- England need to take Taylor seriously now.
For one reason or another, Nottinghamshire’s James Taylor has never seemed to be particularly popular among the selectors at first team level, despite captaining the Lions for so long and being as good as anyone at county level and in an England shirt: he’s been brilliant recently.
He seized his chance towards the end of the test series, scoring runs so comfortably when others were really struggling, especially against spin. In the ODI series, without making the headlines with a big hundred, he scored two fifties in the four games, including 60 in the first match when others struggled, and once again looked like he’d been playing international cricket for years.
Having been repeatedly toyed with by previous England coaches and selectors, this tour has shown that Taylor must now be taken seriously and become a regular in both the test and ODI teams.
- There’s nothing to worry about up top.
The two players that symbolise England’s new youthful attitude to one-day cricket is our new best-mate opening partnership of Alex Hales and Jason Roy. Both are still just beginning their international careers. Their returns had been modest at best going into this series, but you get the feeling that a hundred each in this series has really seen them establish themselves in this team: what an exciting prospect that is.
Hales’ century came first, getting his first England ton in the second ODI, converting his 50 as the pair both reached half centuries in an opening stand of 102. Roy then got in on the act in the final encounter when he made an equally well-made hundred, also his first century, to deliver what everyone has been waiting for from him since he made his England debut.
So not only do they make a brilliant opening pair, individually we now know that they can go big and make match winning contributions, a reassuring thought for Trevor Bayliss.
- New England are ready.
At the start of the summer, when Brendan McCullum came over with New Zealand and his exciting ‘brand’ of cricket, England decided that the only way to beat them was to join them, and completely mixed up the squad, filling it with exciting youngsters that had been dominating the county game. They went on to win that series with some outstanding performances, and pushed Australia very close. Now that this series with Pakistan has come and gone and they have performed so well once again, you have to say that perhaps the ‘transition period’ that we were apparently in over the summer, after the disaster that was the World Cup, has to be over.
This is our team now. They’ve proved themselves over three series and you can’t deny they’re ready. The immediate focus will be the Twenty20 World Cup which is soon upon us, rather than the 50 over stuff we’ve recently enjoyed, but the personnel will be very similar if not identical, and we can now all look forward to seeing this side take England back up those world rankings, and maybe even to some silverware.
Images courtesy of Sam Bagnall
