“T20 World Cup 2021: “Jordan bowled to Jimmy Neesham’s arc” - Mahela Jayawardene feels tactical blunder cost England semis against New Zealand

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene reckons Chris Jordan’s decision to bowl round the wicket to James Neesham was a tactical error, which went a long way in England losing the semi-finals against New Zealand.

With New Zealand needing 57 off 24 to clinch the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final win, England pacer Jordan conceded 23 in the 17th over. He went round the wicket to Neesham and allowed the Kiwi left-hander a free swing of the arms.

Reflecting on England’s loss, Jayawardene told ESPN Cricinfo that the team were a bit short on runs. He, however, admitted that Jordan’s over made a huge difference to the eventual result of the match.

“The par score was 160-165, you needed that extra 15-20 runs. New Zealand held their nerves, batted deeper, put a couple of England bowlers under pressure and they just could not execute. That over from Jordan, who is renowned for his death bowling, and that plan to come round the wicket… Jordan bowled to Jimmy Neesham’s arc. That’s probably where England went wrong and handed over that momentum to New Zealand,” Jayawardene said.

According to former India pacer Ajit Agarkar, Jordan could have attempted to bowl over the wicket to try and keep the ball away from Neesham’s hitting zone. He explained:

“You can get it wrong on the day but the one thing you don’t want to do is try and bowl length balls to Neesham coming towards him. That’s the only place he has hit everything. After the first hit, if he wasn’t getting it right, he (Jordan) could have looked at going over the wickets, go out of his arc and bowl it wide.”

Agarkar was also perplexed with England captain Eoin Morgan’s decision to give the 18th over to leg-spinner Adil Rashid. He opined:

“Adil Rashid to Neesham at that point was a curious choice. Anything landing in the stumps was certainly going out of the park. At that point, they needed one or two hits.”

Rashid conceded two sixes in the 18th over as the semi-final firmly swung New Zealand’s way.

“Tymal Mills’ absence created a gulf in England’s death-overs strategy” - Tom Moody

Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody felt that England missed Tymal Mills’ death-overs skills and were found out once New Zealand went on the attack.

Asked to make sense of England’s meltdown towards the end, Moody pointed out:

“Tymal Mills’ absence created quite a gulf in England’s death-overs strategy. To have Adil Rahid bowling as late as he bowled is a real gamble. You don’t want to be having those gambles at the pointy-end of the World Cup. To me, it looked like as soon as pressure was put on that England attack, they didn’t have the answers because they didn’t have the death resources they had in the past.”

Chasing 167 for a place in the final, New Zealand got over the line in 19 overs as Daryl Mitchell scored an unbeaten 72 off 47 while James Neesham smashed 27 in 11.