Cardiff: England captain Eoin Morgan praised his “outstanding” bowling attack after the tournament hosts booked their place in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy with an 87-run win over New Zealand in Cardiff.
Tuesday’s success means England will return to the Welsh capital as Group A winners for a last four clash against the as yet unknown Group B runners-up on June 14, in an event featuring the world’s leading eight one-day international teams.
England looked to have fallen short of a par score despite making 310 all out after Joe Root (64), Alex Hales (56) and Ben Stokes (48) were all dismissed when well set before Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 61 boosted the total.
But fast bowler Mark Wood took the key wicket of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (87) in the 31st over. Williamson’s exit sparked a collapse that saw New Zealand lose their last eight wickets for 65 runs on the way to a total of 223 all out.
Liam Plunkett took four for 55, with his fellow paceman Jake Ball named Man-of-the-Match after striking early to dismiss Luke Ronchi for a duck on his way to fine figures of two for 31 in eight overs.
Meanwhile, leg-spinner Adil Rashid justified his recall in place of injured all-rounder Chris Woakes with a 10-over return of two for 47.
Morgan feared England didn’t have enough runs to play with after being sent into bat by Williamson.
“I thought we were probably 10 or 15 below par — given that 320 is probably a par score regardless of the game we’re playing in these days,” said Morgan after England had still passed 300 in half of their 46 ODIs since a humiliating first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup.
Wood produced a superb delivery that Williamson, seemingly on course for a second successive century after his hundred in the Blackcaps’ rain-ruined no result opener against Australia, could only glove to diving wicketkeeper Buttler.
“Guys like him (Wood) are so valuable to the team — and you can’t leave any of our bowlers out,” Morgan insisted.
“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.”
England seamer Chris Woakes, meanwhile, may not be fit for the first two of the upcoming four-match Test cricket series against South Africa due to the side strain that he suffered during their ICC Champions Trophy opening match against Bangladesh on June 1.
The Test series, which starts from July 6 at Lord’s, holds immense importance to the English side as South Africa have won both of the last Test series played between the two teams in England.
“It’s a left side strain and there is a tear in the muscle. It’s a grade-two injury, which is not terrible news, but it’s not great news at the same time,” Woakes was quoted as saying by espncricinfo on Tuesday.
“They say it’s roughly a four-to-six week injury, and it’s more likely to be towards the six when I am back playing competitive cricket,” the 28-year-old right-armer added.
“I’m on day five of my recovery now, and the physios say for the first 10 to 14 days there’s not a lot we can do other than rest it.”
—AFP
