DUBAI // Few things are as quintessentially English as genuine outswing bowling. Their finest fast bowlers have been marked by their ability to produce one away-curver after another.
Only time will tell where Matthew Fisher ends up in the great long list of English pace champions – or whether he gets on it. But on Saturday morning, he produced a burst of real English pace bowling in the Under 19 World Cup quarter-final against India at the Dubai stadium.
England eventually had a number of heroes to thank for getting them through to their first U19 semi-final since 2006, but Fisher’s early morning burst was surely the decisive spell in an enervating, tight three-wicket victory.
Having lost the toss, Fisher found conditions nearly ideal for bowling. The start had been delayed half an hour by heavy fog, the sun was still waking up and there was a little chill about. Fisher found the perfect length, drawing batsmen into strokes, before curving the ball away.
Akhil Herwadkar and main man Sanju Samson went in successive deliveries, the latter undone by a peach that, in real time and feel was like one with which James Anderson announced himself at the 2003 World Cup against Pakistan. Ricky Bhui fell soon after and India were 24 for four.
“His ability to swing the ball caused a few problems for the Indians today,” said the England captain Will Rhodes. “To get four wickets today and three upfront is always going to put any team on the back foot. He is still learning the skills with the old ball but with the new ball he is as good as any bowler in the competition.”
India’s top order has been a worry through the tournament and once again it was from the middle that a recovery was mounted. They were ridiculously badly placed here, but still worked their way to a workable total with Vijay Zol and Deepak Hooda.
A little sting came from Sarfaraz Khan, with one of those displays of finishing, nerveless and bottom-handed, that is bound to earn comparisons with MS Dhoni.
England were never out of the chase, but equally were never entirely in it.
Ben Duckett, man of the match officially (in spirit it had to be Fisher), kept them afloat with an Eoin Morgan-esque 61: it was perfectly-paced and leading England to a comfortable win.
“Ben has been due for a innings like that for a while now,” said Rhodes. “He has got to 20s and 30s and to get to 60 today in a crunch match means a whole lot to us.”
But he was one of three late strikes by Kuldeep Yadav, the chinaman bowler who has captured the imagination this tournament. An enterprising 51-run stand between Robert Jones and wicketkeeper Joe Clarke yanked England back into the chase though and a match that twisted this way and that only settled when Jones and Robert Sayer took 11 runs off the 49th over.
That left four required from the 50th; Sayer lifted the first ball over extra cover and England were through. Remarkably, it was England’s first win over India in a knockout ICC game since 1987.
“We are all disappointed,” said Zol. “Everyone knew that we were a good team and to be knocked off in the quarter-finals is disappointing when you played good cricket.”
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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