It wasn’t always pretty, it certainly didn’t live up to the plan they had laid out, and it was their unannounced bowlers, not their star batters, who got the job done. But England leveled the ODI series against India at Lord’s, set up a decision maker on Sundays.
This feels like an important victory for as Buttler and Matthew Mott, the post-Morgan captain and coach. They were blown away in the first two T20s last week but won a dead rubber when India rested their best bowlers. Now, against a full strength India side, with the series on the line after a heavy defeat, they took a 100-run victory.
Their two left-arm seamen, David Willey and Reece Topley, were central to the victory. Willey helped England reach 246, having come in at 148 for six with over 20 overs left.
After that, the pair got the perfect start to the defense by bowling four girls on top. Topley dismissed the openers, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, leaving Virat Kohli – who looked ominous – behind. When Brydon Carse followed with the wicket of Rishabh Pant in the 12th over, India was 31 to four and the match was all but over.
Topley would return twice and take a wicket in the opening left of his spell. First came Suryakumar Yadav’s large scalp, then Mohammed Shami, whose plodding began to annoy England with a long tail. Next ball, Liam Livingstone, with his first delivery of the match, threw Ravindra Jadeja to really put an end to India’s hopes.
Topley completed his first international five-wicket haul by slipping one through Yuzvendra Chahal’s defence, before finishing his job by bowling Prasidh Krishna. He finished with remarkable figures of 9.5-2-24-6, the best ODI figures for England and the best by any bowler in an ODI at Lord’s.
After being asked to bat first again, England’s 246, which was discarded with one left to spare, was a disappointment. But it represented a decent recovery of 102 for five, with their top five gone, and at that point they threatened another meltdown of the sort we saw Tuesday at the Kia Oval. Then they were skittled for 110 and lost by 10 wickets. This time they started better and scrambled harder.
After four of the top six ducks were made last week, England needed a quieter start, and Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow delivered just that. They split 41 before Roy, who had been skittish again, singled out the only figure in depth on the leg side of Hardik Pandya.
It was the introduction of Yuzvendra Chahal that sent England to pieces, insisting on sweeping. Bairstow was bowled, sweeping, and Joe Root was perpendicular to the front. For a while, Ben Stokes’ reverse sweeping worked very well, but he was soon lbw too and, like Root, took a review with him. By then Mohammed Shami, who was harassing Roy from above, had returned to bowl Buttler.
Moeen and Liam Livingstone started rebuilding and shared 46. But Livingstone got into an ego battle with Pandya and lost. With some brilliant frontiers, four and six, Livingstone took the long frontier one more time and got caught.
That coupled Moeen and Willey, who had the biggest score of the game 62 from 13 overs. Each landed two big sixes before being caught on the fence. A few punches and punches from the tail added a final few runs that were vital. In reality, England had had enough.