“I’m just glad that we got over the line tonight,” Brook said at the post-match presentations. “We haven’t quite had that perfect game yet. They’ve all been a little bit niggly so far. And hopefully we can have an easier game against Italy, and play our best cricket that everybody knows and loves. And we can put some smiles on some faces back home, and get through the group stage.”
“He was awesome,” Brook said, after Banton had launched Watt for 22 in his first over, en route to taking him for 28 runs in the 11 balls of their match-up. After two single-figure scores against Nepal and West Indies, it was a vindication too of Banton’s presence at No. 4, even though this was not the surface for his trademark reverse-sweeps.
“I like to sweep and reverse, but I think my plan was to go as straight as possible,” Banton said, after accepting the Player-of-the-Match award for his 63 not out from 41 balls. “Then when they miss short, you can try and pull it away. When your match-up comes on, you’ve got to really try and take it down. And keep backing yourself.”
“That’s something we’ll probably reflect on,” Berrington said afterwards. “I think we knew spin was going to be key through that middle phase today, and obviously our execution was slightly off. Just being real clear on our best options, especially as we move on now to different conditions [after three matches in Kolkata]. That partnership through the middle was really good. It just wasn’t quite long enough.”
Despite picking up 3 for 36 in his four overs, Adil Rashid endured another tricky day with his second over going for 18, and Brook knew full well that his team could have been chasing nearer 200 had Scotland closed out their own batting with more composure.
“We were over the moon with that,” he said, after eventually being set 153. “They batted really well against our spinners again in that first couple of spells, and they were getting ahead of us at one point, but then we managed to drag it back really well.”
One undoubted plus for England, however, was the form of Archer. He had been taken for 90 runs across the first two matches of the campaign in Mumbai, despite hitting speeds of up to 148kph/92mph. But on a pitch that was far more to his liking, he found a hard length to harass Scotland’s top-order throughout the powerplay, and finished with 2 for 24 in his four overs.
“He was slamming the length beautifully today,” Brook said. “He got his lines and lengths perfect, and was bowling gas again and with good skill. So it’s nice to see him back on the park and doing really well.”
All of which means that England can take nothing for granted when they come up against Italy on Monday, especially in light of their own extraordinary ten-wicket win over the same Nepal team who had pushed England to the brink in the opener. Nevertheless, if Brook’s men can prevail, they will book a return to Sri Lanka for the Super Eights, and the same pitches where they secured a hard-fought 3-0 series win only last month.
The confidence that the team had projected after those wins hasn’t hung around, however, and Brook was at a loss to explain why.
“I’m not quite sure, to be honest,” he said. “We just haven’t quite hit our strengths so far. Hopefully that comes. We don’t want to hit it too early, but obviously we want to get through the group stages. Hopefully against Italy, that can be the start of the rise.”
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
