England going from strength to strength but harder tests to come

Wednesday evening saw England secure their One Day International series win over Sri Lanka, as a Jason Roy masterclass led England to a comprehensive six wicket victory at the Kia Oval. The tourists’ total of 305-5 in just 42 overs meant that England required their second-highest ODI chase for victory, but as has so often been the case during both the test matches and in the shorter format, England proceeded to make light-work of a seemingly difficult target. This was in no small part due to the aforementioned Roy who, in his typically swash-buckling style, dismantled the Sri Lankan attack hitting 162 off 118 runs before he fell, disappointingly, when England were just 30 runs short of the target. To expect the 25-year-old to bat through for the second time in three games was perhaps unfair, but his two impressive centuries have helped cement his position at the top of the order - if it was ever in doubt.

With the 2017 Champions Trophy, which is being hosted on home turf, now under twelve months away, this series gave England the perfect opportunity to begin preparations and prove that we are capable of going one step further than we managed in 2013 - when we fell to India in the final. It is fair to say that preparations have started well. This series has shown that we are capable of dealing with adversity; demonstrated in the opening game when from 30-4, we managed to salvage a draw - a game which highlighted the strength of our batting order with Chris Woakes, batting at number 8, hitting an unbeaten 95.

Our bowling unit has worked well throughout the series, with David Willey, Chris Woakes and, perhaps the stand-out, Liam Plunkett consistently taking wickets. Plunkett, who starred with the bat in the aforementioned Trent Bridge opener when he hit a six off the last ball to earn England a tie, took 7 wickets across the first three games of the series. The alternative string to our bow, Adil Rashid, has been similarly impressive. For a leg-spinner, Rashid has been extremely economical, going at just 3.6 and 3.2 in the first two games respectively. The latter was a particularly impressive performance as his tight spell of bowling was capped by the two important scalps of Sri Lankan captain Angelo Matthews and pinch-hitter Seekkuge Prasanna. Rashid represents the perfect alternative option for captain Eoin Morgan to turn to, to try and dry up scoring during the middle overs and, as a result, an in-form Rashid is crucial to our one-day success. If he can continue his form into next month’s Pakistan series, over the winter and into next summer’s Champions Trophy then England will surely have a great chance of success.

Since England’s failure to get out of the group stages during 2015’s dismal World Cup campaign, the signs have been promising. On top of reaching the final of the World T20 earlier in the year, we have now come out on top in three of our last five one-day series and our young side looks like it is developing into one of the strongest outfits around. Alex Hales and Jason Roy are becoming more and more dominant at the top of the order, Jonny Barstow - despite a relatively quiet series - is turning into a formidable batsman and Joe Root, despite struggling for form, is still one of the best around. When you add the likes of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid into the mix, we look incredibly strong. Some might argue that we are perhaps lacking a ‘gun’ fast bowler, someone like Australia’s Mitchell Starc or Pakistan’s returning Mohammad Amir, but the combination of Woakes, Willey and Plunkett with Chris Jordan and Steven Finn in reserve is decidedly solid, if unspectacular.

It is now down to Trevor Bayliss and the England set-up to carry this form forward in order to successfully navigate far harder tests than this poor Sri Lanka side. If we can do just that then maybe, just maybe, the 2017 Champions Trophy will be ours?