Mo said that’s it for him – he’s been much undervalued at times, a real team man batting wherever he’s told, taking wickets at a good strike rate (his 4th innings s/r better than Warne) but lacking a bit of control at times. But you win games by taking wickets….. and Stokes has recognised that and trusted him even when runs were leaking a bit. Even today; would have been easy to go to the new ball and hope Broad, Woakes and Woods would wrap it up but he trusted Mo and he delivered.
There’s some gaps to fill for sure, but nothing fills gaps better than necessity. I was impressed what i saw of Tongue, Robinson has more to offer, and there’s a few others to look at. Leach coming back for Mo is obvious, I’m half wondering if Stokes is serious about learning off-spin…. there’s not a lot he can’t do, has got a good action and massive hands so why not?
I defended at the time, but for me Lords bouncer-time was the only time they really got Bazball wrong. The positive intent and scoring at 5+ an over nearly set up the OT game where only weather rescued the Aussies, and without the positive intent this time they’d have not got close here either. Easier, granted, when you’re 2-1 down in the final game with nothing to lose but 283 in 55 overs was a far better score than 350 in 80 as that created the opportunity. They’ve found a brilliant balance of intent and execution and will only get better in that, knowing when to press the loud pedal and knowing when to just ease back while still looking to carry the game to the opposition. And so for the last time this series
WERE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!!
