Midway through the mammoth T20 tour of Pakistan, Moeen Ali played down England’s World Cup chances and insisted that Australia and India were the two standout favourites.
The defending champions on home soil, for sure, are a force to be reckoned with, as are India, anytime, anywhere, but if there were doubts about England’s ability to contend, they have largely been blown away over the course of a month that could not have gone a great deal better.
After a difficult first summer at the helm, things have been falling into place nicely for captain Jos Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott ever since the first ball was bowled in Karachi — at least until Reece Topley turned an ankle in practice yesterday, although even that may make a tough selection call a tad easier.
Going into that tour, England’s white-ball side was the underachieving sibling of the Test equivalent for the first time in years. Ben Stokes had not played T20 cricket since the dawn of time, Jason Roy had been dropped, Jonny Bairstow crocked, while the 15-strong squad list for Australia contained more ailments than a GP’s waiting room.
Since then, however, England have won seven of their 10 concluded games, including back-to-back series away from home: a tense, thrilling 4-3 triumph in Pakistan with an experimental squad, and then, after the cavalry arrived, 2-0 against Australia, denied a 3-0 whitewash only by rain. Crucially, in that time, just about every player has offered reason to believe they could turn a World Cup fixture on their own.
At the top of the order, the baggage that Alex Hales’s recall was supposed to bring so far seems to have been left at Heathrow, and the opener has cemented his place with a couple of match-defining scores. Returns have not been consistent, but alongside Buttler they may not have to be, the skipper scoring two half-centuries in three innings against Australia and looking none the worse for his lay-off.
Dawid Malan, often and unjustly seen as expendable, looks in fine nick after a slow start in Pakistan, where his innings in the decider in Lahore won the series, while Harry Brook’s form has forced England to find room in a batting line-up that did not have much going spare.
Stokes played the best hand of what had been a scratchy T20 return with 36 off 18 balls yesterday, and carries a certain aura into major tournaments, while Moeen, who captained brilliantly in Pakistan, has failed just once in seven innings with the bat. Liam Livingstone, the most touch-and-go of England’s injury worries, was back in time to belt 28 off 16 balls in the final warm-up.
In the bowling ranks, Topley’s injury would have been a major issue only weeks ago, but suddenly England looked well-stocked. Sam Curran has been so good with the ball that the idea of carding him at No8 does not seem an absurd waste of batting talent.
T20 cricket is so volatile that if the garden looks especially rosy right now, maintaining it for the next month will be no mean feat
Upon their returns from injury, Mark Wood has bowled rockets and Chris Woakes served a reminder of his quality, particularly in a brief but devastating new-ball spell in the washout against Australia. Chris Jordan is light on game-time, but bowled a tight over at the death yesterday.
The plan, it seems, is coming together, though the pessimist might say this is bad news: T20 cricket is so volatile that if the garden looks especially rosy right now, maintaining it for the next month will be no mean feat.
England, who start their tournament against Afghanistan on Saturday, were highly-fancied in the UAE and were undone by New Zealand in a few irrecoverable semi-final overs. Five years earlier, it was four balls and four sixes from Carlos Brathwaite that doomed their hopes. It does not take much.
But if Moeen was trying to play down expectations, then everything England have done on the field since has had the opposite effect.
