Rising to the occasion

THEY may have experienced different results but the smallest players in England’s two national teams in action last week prove that size isn’t everything.

As England defeated Ireland 47-17 at rugby union at Twickenham it was George Ford, towered over by his colleagues and opponents, who caught the eye with a man-of-the-match performance. He stood tall against Italy although this was a very different match and atmosphere from the one against Wales in which the huge attacking backs specifically tried to smash their way through. That he has excelled in two very different games speaks volumes for the 21-year old.

Against the Welsh there were numerous defensive kicks from ball in hand although against the Italians his creativity came to the fore. Running flat across the gain line Ford was full of invention, mixing delayed passes with fakes all the time intelligently using the space available. His vision seemed to inspire Watson and Joseph outside him, invaluable qualities in a Number 10.

That is not to say that he did not kick. Early on a penalty into the far corner was the pivotal moment leading to Billy Vunipola’s opening try for England.

England may have secured a comfortable 30-point margin yet, as perfectionists, there will still be areas of concern. The Red Rose conceded more possession and territory to Italy and also allowed soft tries at the beginning and end of the match. Perhaps of greater concern will be the missed tackles, which will be punished much more heavily by the Irish in their next fixture.

Elsewhere, the Irish continued their perfect season to set up a mouth-watering clash against England in just over week with a gutsy if unspectacular 18-11 win over the French, the main talking-point after the match again being that of head injuries. With Jonny Sexton playing his first match after an enforced 12-week absence as a result of concussion, he can consider himself to be unfortunate to be left bloodied following a sickening clash of heads with Mathieu Bastareaud.

That aside, Ireland will have concerns of their own having failed to score a try of their own and having to rely on a disallowed French try in the 29th minute for obstruction.

Moving across to the Cricket World Cup the magnitude of the opening victories for the hosts – and a reinvigorated India – meant that the main talking point was of England’s 5ft 6in James Taylor being left stranded on 98 not out, two runs short of his maiden One Day International (ODI) century, thanks to an umpiring error.

While Aaron Finch won the man-of-the-match award for his thrilling 135 off only 128 balls, it could have been so different if Chris Woakes had caught a regulation chance while the Aussie opener was still on nought. However, while Australia possesses a rich seam of talent that goes deep into their batting line-up, it was Taylor’s innings that stood out as all other England batsmen failed to rise to the occasion. This was all the more remarkable given that the England management relegated Taylor to the unfamiliar position of Number 6 having spent much of his career playing at Number 3.

With the match all but over Taylor was adjudged out LBW although he was able to successfully overturn the decision on review. However, in the confusion following the appeal, his partner, James Anderson, had been run out. The ICC admitted after the match that the ball should have been classed as ‘dead’ and issued an apology, which meant little to the result and more to an England team searching for positives amidst a heavy and justifiable defeat.

Taylor has achieved his recent success on a variety of wickets and in different situations. While he, perhaps, lacks the explosive batting power of bigger players, there are many other positives. He uses quick feet and hands resulting in him being strong square of the wicket on both sides and his size means that bowlers are forced to adjust their length of delivery.

Elsewhere, the intense rivalry of an opening fixture against Pakistan awoke the slumbering defending champions, India, who maintained their perfect World Cup record against their neighbours. While much will be made of Virat Kohli’s magnificent century in securing a 76-run victory, for me what stood out was the ability of their bowlers to formulate and then execute a plan against the opposing batsmen, with Shami shining brightest with 4-35.

Much maligned as one-dimensional and erratic, India’s pacemen truly delivered in the cauldron of the Adelaide Oval in a match that was very different to the semi-final in Chandigarh four years ago, if not in the result. In the eyes of some of their fervent fans none of the other results matter as this is ‘better than winning the World Cup’.
I doubt that their players will see it that way and hope that this victory will now ignite the fire in this slumbering giant for the remainder of the tournament.

Ireland has also continued its giant-killing tradition by producing a stunning batting display to defeat the West Indies. For the third World Cup in a row Ireland has defeated one of the established nations with John Mooney, as he did in Bangalore four years ago against England, hitting the winning runs. 

With the ICC set to reduce the number of teams participating they have proved that they belong at this level. What makes this all the more remarkable is that there have only been five successful run chases requiring in excess of 300 runs in a World Cup – and Ireland have now produced three of them! Taking into account all ODIs this was also the sixth-fastest chase of all-time.

This last weekend of FA Cup football action in England again demonstrated the ability of the little clubs in the competition to cause a shock or two. Top of the pile were again Bradford City who followed up their earlier defeat of Chelsea by humbling Sunderland. Admittedly, this was a home fixture played on a real ‘cow field’ of a pitch that was reminiscent of most games played before the 1980s.

Blackburn Rovers were the other team to take advantage of playing at home to humble Premiership opposition by defeating Stoke City 4-1.