{"id":293521,"date":"2023-10-19T17:56:34","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T17:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=293521"},"modified":"2023-10-19T17:56:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T17:56:34","slug":"bairstow-insists-england-have-firepower-to-blow-away-world-cup-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/%d1%81ricket\/bairstow-insists-england-have-firepower-to-blow-away-world-cup-rivals\/","title":{"rendered":"Bairstow insists England have firepower to blow away World Cup rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Jonny Bairstow insists England have the batting firepower to blow away World Cup rivals&#8230; and they don&#8217;t need to rely on return of talisman Ben Stokes from injury<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>England face South Africa in must-win encounter in Mumbai on Saturday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>England have lost two of their opening three games at the World Cup\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Head coach Matthew Mott has called for more assertive use of the powerplay\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jonny Bairstow has insisted England still have the batting firepower to intimidate opponents at the World Cup &#8211; and promised they won\u2019t be relying on the return of Ben Stokes to give their title defence the oomph it needs.<\/p>\n<p>When England meet South Africa in Mumbai on Saturday, both will be licking wounds &#8211; England after their defeat by Afghanistan, South Africa after Tuesday\u2019s even more surprising loss to the Netherlands in Dharamshala. For both sides, victory at the Wankhede is non-negotiable.<\/p>\n<p>And the onus will be on Bairstow to give his team the kind of start that four years ago was their white-ball calling card.<\/p>\n<p>His own World Cup, like England\u2019s, keeps threatening to ignite without yet catching fire: 33 off 35 balls against New Zealand, 52 off 59 against Bangladesh, then two off four against Afghanistan, when he was sent on his way by a marginal lbw decision from umpire Rod Tucker, whom Bairstow later acknowledged with a civil but taciturn handshake. \u2018The decision the other day was the decision the other day,\u2019 he deadpanned.<\/p>\n<p>But he has now set his sights on a South African attack whose pace-bowling bias may play to his strengths. Above all, he believes England have shed none of the aura which has made them the only men\u2019s team to simultaneously hold both limited-overs World Cups.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/16\/76714255-0-image-a-1_1697643872875.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jonny Bairstow has insisted England still have the batting firepower to intimidate opponents<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76717631-12645725-image-a-38_1697648198112.jpg\" height=\"376\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jos Buttler&#8217;s side were handed one of their most humiliating defeats of all time by Afghanistan<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76717633-12645725-image-a-37_1697648193956.jpg\" height=\"446\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Bairstow was given out by Rod Tucker before a review showed it was umpire&#8217;s call for both line and impact on the wickets<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I don\u2019t really think much has changed, has it?\u2019 he said. \u2018Look at the strength in depth in our batting line-up. I don\u2019t think the firepower can be questioned. It\u2019s just that we haven&#8217;t executed it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There\u2019s a reason why the guys won the T20 World Cup last year. There\u2019s a reason why the guys won the 2019 World Cup and we\u2019re the defending champions. Just because we&#8217;ve lost a game to Afghanistan doesn&#8217;t make us bad cricketers.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Mott suggested on Tuesday that England\u2019s confidence has taken a hit, and scores of 282 for nine, 364 for nine (when they ought to have made 400) and 215 appear to back him up. But while the head coach called for more assertive use of the powerplay &#8211; with both bat and ball &#8211; Bairstow tempered expectations.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I don\u2019t see anyone else in the world scoring at nine runs an over,\u2019 he said. \u2018Look at India: they don\u2019t just go balls to the wall in the first 10. The importance of the first 10 is to score quickly, yes, but also score in a way that\u2019s sustainable over a long period of time. We\u2019re not playing a T20 game, we\u2019re playing a 50-over game.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The mixed messages may reflect Bairstow\u2019s attempts to adjust to his new opening partner, Dawid Malan, who tends to chew up balls early in his innings, even if he is capable of serious acceleration later on, as he confirmed against Bangladesh.<\/p>\n<p>And the feeling persists that England won\u2019t be able to puff out their chests, as Mott put it, until Stokes is back on the field &#8211; even if casting him in the role of saviour is a narrative his team-mates prefer not to dwell on.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Any side that has a performer like Ben coming back in, it\u2019s naturally going to have an impact,\u2019 said Bairstow. \u2018At the same time, it\u2019s not necessarily a one-man side, and everyone\u2019s got to to perform better than we did in the last game.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>In theory, England v South Africa brings together the two biggest-hitting teams of modern times. All 25 totals above 400 ever made in ODI cricket have come since 2006, with South Africa the only side to make more than England &#8211; eight to their five, including a World Cup-record 428 for five against Sri Lanka in this tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the talk going into Saturday\u2019s game is of frailties exposed and vulnerabilities to exploit. Bairstow, naturally, can see no \u2018wobbles\u2019 in the England camp, but was guarded in his praise of their opponents.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/16\/76714293-0-image-a-2_1697643947315.jpg\" height=\"409\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England head coach Matthew Mott has called for more assertive use of the powerplay<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/16\/76714315-0-image-a-3_1697643983867.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England will hope the return of Ben Stokes can kickstart their World Cup title defence<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We know they\u2019re a strong nation and they\u2019ve been playing well,\u2019 he said. \u2018But we also know now they\u2019re coming off a loss as well.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Despite what Mott said, is there still a confidence in England\u2019s dressing-room that they can win a third World Cup in four years?<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Yeah, absolutely there is,\u2019 said Bairstow. \u2018The group remains calm. Belief and confidence isn&#8217;t something that\u2019s been questioned one bit. The confidence is unwavering.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not long now before the words will have to translate into action.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/cricket\/article-12645725\/Jonny-Bairstow-England-World-Cup-Ben-Stokes-injury.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonny Bairstow insists England have the batting firepower to blow away World Cup rivals&#8230; and they don&#8217;t need to rely on return of talisman Ben Stokes from injury England face South Africa in must-win encounter in Mumbai on Saturday England have lost two of their opening three games at the World Cup\u00a0 Head coach Matthew [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bairstow insists England have firepower to blow away World Cup rivals - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/\u0441ricket\/bairstow-insists-england-have-firepower-to-blow-away-world-cup-rivals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bairstow insists England have firepower to blow away World Cup rivals - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jonny Bairstow insists England have the batting firepower to blow away World Cup rivals&#8230; 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