Cricket World Cup 2015: England hunt for form as blistering New Zealand wait

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/feb/18/cricket-world-cup-england-new-zealand

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Life in New Zealand always seems just that little bit less frenetic than in Australia. In Wellington, stunning with the sun out, England have had their civic welcomes and traditional greetings. The hospitality is always overwhelming and they have practised at the lovely old Basin Reserve.

On Friday afternoon though, more than 30,000 will pack into the functional austere grey harbourside rugby stadium, known affectionately as the Cake Tin, hospitality will cease and hostility will take its place. This is a ground with mixed memories for England. In a one-day international in 2002, New Zealand made only 244 and still won by 155 runs after Nasser Hussain had put them in.

Six years later, England chose to bat first and so heavy was the going that they managed only 130 in two balls short of the full 50 overs: New Zealand won with 20 overs and six wickets to spare. Overall, New Zealand have won twice as many games here as they have lost.

Two years ago though, in a T20 game, Steven Finn bowled with searing pace, Stuart Broad with vigour, and when it came to it, Michael Lumb and Alex Hales pulverised the Black Caps to a 10-wicket defeat. It has not been all bad.

Even in that two-year span though, circumstances have changed, not just with England but New Zealand. There was a time when the Kiwis would promise much when a World Cup came around and then fall short, the perennial good each way bet. Now, however, the expectation is sky high: Brendon McCullum, the best captain in world cricket, is leading a side that can challenge strongly for the title. These are no longer underdogs. Instead the boot is on the other foot, and it is England who have arrived wondering if they will be able to cope with what McCullum has called a juggernaut that has been gathering momentum for months. Even the slightly clumsy win over Scotland was predicated on a desire to finish the job as quickly as possible with net run rate a consideration. Earlier, Sri Lanka had felt the full force of some power hitting and the threat posed by one of the best new ball attacks in the world. England, meanwhile, were given the harshest of lessons by Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. If it was a contest that, beforehand, they had entered secure in their belief that they could win, then from the first over, when Chris Woakes dropped Aaron Finch at square leg before the batsman had scored, it seemed evident that they would not.

“There is, always that level of expectation,” said England’s captain Eoin Morgan after practice, although he is probably referring more to within the team than outside it, where the mood following the loss to Australia (particularly the overawed manner of it) is nearer pessimism.

No other side in the tournament has had to cope with two such challenging games first up and two defeats, while not necessarily derailing England’s qualification process, would do little for confidence levels. Morgan admitted to a sense of frustration that exists, with the team confident they are a good side, but unable to show it. The nature of the scheduling might have been a help but could easily turn into a hindrance.

“There is a sense of frustration,” he admitted. “The big games that we play, these first two games in particular, are great practice for the later stages in the tour. If we can get wins under our belt against good opposition it can breed confidence for later in the tour. Ideally you’d build that before the big games but it is just the way they fall.”

It is the form of the captain that continues to dominate the agenda. In fact it is hard to assess his form so little time has he been spending at the crease before getting out in increasingly exotic ways. But two runs in five innings might, without fear of contradiction, be considered a slump.

So bad form or bad luck, Eoin?

“A bit of both. I’ve certainly done the same things that I’ve been doing since the start of the tour and I started the tour with a hundred. That’s only five games ago. It’s not that long ago.”

In Melbourne, he got the toe end of his bat on an attempted pull, deceived into mistiming because the ball held in the pitch a fraction.

“I was unlucky the other day,” he said. “Looking forward to Friday, I’ve worked as hard as I’ve been working, and I’ll continue to keep things simple.”

The extreme nature of the fluctuation in result for him is difficult to explain though. “I’d love you to explain it to me because I don’t understand it,” he said. “Personally I try and keep it as simple as possible. You don’t look any further than what’s in front of you and I’ve done that and it hasn’t worked but I believe it will work and, when it does, hopefully I can cash in on it and hopefully make it either a match-winning performance or build on somebody else’s performance. I think the fact that I’ve been through bad patches before has helped. Re-engaging with that belief you need to have and determination in your training probably gives me more confidence than if it was the first time going through a bad run.”

It is not just Morgan who is going to have to perform to a considerably higher standard if the New Zealanders are to be beaten. Only James Taylor emerged from the game in credit, with the batting failing collectively, the bowling unable to cope at the back end of the Australian innings, and the fielding below their highest standard.

As both Sri Lanka and Scotland found out, the capacity of Trent Boult to swing the new ball at pace into the right-hander is hugely dangerous and difficult to counter unless the batsmen stand out of the crease and cause him to adjust his length. The bowling at the end is a question of adjusting to the situation, batsmen, and conditions. There will not be so much room with which to play as there was at the MCG. But a guess would be more attempted yorkers ( although these again are conditional on a skill factor: it is a most difficult ball to get right), but also to make sure that the field placing is appropriate, which it has not always been.

One of the biggest imbalances in the game is bowlers being allowed only four outfielders at the end, so it is vital that they are all used to maximum potential: a fifth fielder would make a huge difference to how the game is played and something that ICC must consider.