Josh Inglis(h) beats England

Also, notes on Jofra's four bad balls, Duckett, Ellis, Brook v legspin and 'allrounder' Marnus

What happens when England play grown up, sensible cricket? It turns out, they make a few runs and get themselves into a position where they should absolutely win the game. They pick an extra batter, rather than making Overton bat at seven. Their top order don’t donate wickets, they get their best batters against spin to actually face it. Yes, they didn’t quite get the massive ‘you cannot chase this’ total, but at the halfway point they were ahead. And with Head gone, even more so.

Australia’s next big chance was Smith knocking up a run a ball 80. He was gone too. When there was an early partnership, they found two more wickets. And really all they needed was one more, and they were going to ice the game. So England did something smart again, and they went all in with Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer. They took a position of weakness, and turned it on Australia.

It was Carey who blinked, pulling the ball to Archer, who dropped it. Australia scored fourteen runs off that ball and the three that followed it. And that was that. Smart cricket made England look like a much better side. And they still allowed Australia to chase 350 with overs to spare.

England did things right, and still got smashed. They are not very good.

Josh Inglis(h)

I wonder if Josh Inglis was trying to play England (where he also qualifies) if he would still play this way, or even be a real chance to make the side. They love upside players, and even though he fits their ‘everyone must be-a-keeper’ vibe, though he is more of a strike rotator and hard runner - a bit unlike them.

But it was those things that won Australia the game today. I still think the Marnus/Smith/Josh middle can be a little monoculture at times. But even after wickets, he was batting at the rate. It was a really smart knock.

He just did what he normally does, but quicker. He went after the quicks and scored fast enough against spin to make England struggle.

Worth noting that England did try and force him to score on the legside. He did that way more than usual - with pulls and flicks off the pad whenever he wanted.

Inglis has always had the raw tools. He’s 29 now, and it seems like it might all be coming together.