It would be daft to get too excited at England grabbing their semi-final slot Blues Womens Jersey days before anyone else. This does not guarantee a romp to the final and then the trophy. But the current climate makes a change to the agonising postmortems that accompanied England’s early flight home from the 2015 World Cup.The margin of New Zealand’s defeat in Cardiff – 87 runs – was misleading. After 30 overs of their run chase the Kiwis were 156 for two in pursuit of 311; Kane Williamson, after some early scares, was cruising with Ross Taylor in his wake. There was no sign of an imminent capsize.The New Zealand captain looked serene, rarely inclined to play a shot that involved risk, which was why Morgan had turned to the nearest he has to a “shock” bowler, the galloping Mark Wood. He needed a wicket badly. Then the ball misbehaved, bouncing steeply and flicking Williamson’s glove; Jos Buttler took a testing catch safely.It may be that Morgan had a bit of luck since treacherous deliveries cannot be summoned up to order like pizzas. But from this moment on England did not require any luck. Morgan and his bowlers did not miss a trick.The next batsman was Neil Al Macinnis Womens Jersey Broom and for the first time in the match a short leg was posted. Morgan must have noticed how Williamson had stared at the treacherous spot on the pitch before departing like a man betrayed. Here was the Kiwi captain suggesting that the fates were against him and his side.That short-leg fielder was unlikely to take a catch but he was delivering a message to Broom. This surface was no longer to be trusted; the ball was popping (there was some truth in this since both Williamson and Taylor had been disconcerted earlier in the innings); more importantly there was no harm in reminding the new batsman of this. England were now hunting for wickets rather than containment.There was a message here for Morgan’s pace bowlers: bang the ball into the pitch not at bouncer length, which was the policy employed by New Zealand when bowling from that end in the second half of England’s innings, but just short of a length, preferably using the cross-seam method. Then something might happen. Somehow the Heat Youth Jersey ball seems to grip the surface when bowling cross seam at Cardiff, a handy discovery by Stuart Broad a year or two ago, which had been dutifully passed on.From here Morgan was in control on a day when the little things were counting for something – like the decision to give Jake Ball the first over; he had been carted for over 80 in two of his last three outings. But Morgan wanted him to start in place of Chris Woakes, an expression of confidence in someone who was considered a borderline selection before the game. How did Ball respond? With a wicket and two maidens and ultimately the man-of-the-match award in a game when there was no obvious recipient.The other borderline selection was superb. Rashid obviously has not been sulking since his omission against Bangladesh. The suspicion is that Morgan must have convinced him that this was no slight on his ability or temperament. The conditions were nasty for a wrist-spinner: a gusting wind, a pitch offering Alonzo Mourning Womens Jersey little turn, those much-mentioned short, straight boundaries. Yet Rashid has seldom bowled better for England; there was barely a bad ball; the googly was employed frequently, which can be a sound indicator that his confidence is high.Jos Buttler keen for England to put Australia out of Champions Trophy In the field Morgan attacked adroitly throughout (not just with his brief dalliance with a short leg). With the departure of Williamson Morgan kept his seamers going and the asking rate started to climb; a less confident captain might have slipped on his vulnerable spinner immediately to shed the remaining four overs required from a slow bowler. In any case Morgan had faith in Rashid.Chris Smalling, one of the players whose competitive courage has repeatedly been questioned by José Mourinho over the last season, has said it is wrong to allege he is not willing to put his body on the line and insisted he can supply the hard evidence to show the Manchester United manager was wrong.Mourinho clearly has a different view judging by the number of occasions when he has publicly challenged Smalling, as well as Phil Jones, to speed up their recovery from injuries, at one point stating that if he had the same problem he would declare himself fit the next day.
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