Morgan hails Jordan’s “expertise, skill and calm nature” in England’s T20I win over South Africa

Bristol: Former England skipper Eoin Morgan hailed pacer Chris Jordan’s “expertise, skill and calm nature” in propelling the hosts to a 41-run victory over South Africa in the first T20I at Bristol.

After Jonny Bairstow (90 off 53 balls), Moeen Ali (52 off 18 balls) and Dawid Malan (43 off 23 balls) took England to 234-6, Jordan was impressive with his yorkers, conceding just three and five runs off the 18th and 20th overs respectively to end chances of a late winning heist by South Africa. Overall, Jordan had figures of 0-30 off his four overs as England took 1-0 lead in three-match series.

“It was hugely important and I think when guys like that come and produce, yes, it can be overlooked a lot of the time but in a high-scoring game like tonight you need that expertise, that skill, that calm nature in which he goes about his business.”

“He’s England’s most experienced campaigner, he bowls all the tough overs that are unrewarding majority of the time. T20 is a game of cricket that attracts powerful batsmen, high-scoring games, and that is the glitzy, glamourous side of it,” said Morgan after the match.

Morgan also pointed out that Jordan executed his plans very well and used his variations a lot more than in previous matches for England. “If you have a side that can produce bowling like this when you need it is absolutely priceless. I thought he was extremely clear. He worked well with his skipper Jos Buttler and his plans worked to perfection no matter how simple they were and he obviously used his variation a little bit more today than we have probably seen him do in the past.”

Former South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock described Jordan’s bowling in his last two overs as “one of the best death overs” he had ever seen. “The game is on the line and you’re head of where South Africa needed to be so maybe things are in your favour, but you have to now land it in the right area. You stick to the same game-plan, you don’t change up because often you get bowlers going for different variations because they feel as if they have to.”

“You’ve got left-hander and right-hander combinations which adds a little different dilemma to the issue and you go up and you nail it. Not only do you nail it in the first three of four, you back yourself to stay with that even when they change their options and those last three balls are dot deliveries. That sums up the game.”

Pollock also had some words of praise for youngster Tristan Stubbs, who kept South Africa in the hunt for an unlikely victory with a whirlwind 72 off 28 balls in the first chance of batting in T20I cricket. “From a South African perspective, you look for people to show this kind of ability at the top level to tick the marker. When you see him do it in the way he did in this fashion, that’s the kind of guy you want to run with, isn’t it?”

“That’s the kind of guy you think, he’s got the potential to win games on his own. The more experience we get him, the more he’s going to be able to produce so this could be his launching pad for sure.”

–IANS