ICC T20 World Cup 2016: Michael Atherton believes England benefitted from 'big brother' status
Former England captain Michael Atherton believes that England’s affinity towards the hosts India has given them a comfortable travelling schedule in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2016. England played their first two games of the tournament in Mumbai and then they shifted to Delhi where they played their last two matches of the Super 10 stage. Now again, in the semifinal, they will square off against New Zealand at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi.
Atherton believes that it all happened because of ‘power play’ at the International Cricket Council that yielded big brother status for the bigwigs India, Australia and England. There has been a plethora of talks against the overwhelming dominance of the three heavyweights in the ICC and now Atherton feels that England is reaping benefits of that triumvirate.
England’s travelling schedule in this mega-event has been restricted to only two cities; Delhi and Mumbai whereas their semifinal opponents New Zealand have had a hectic travelling schedule so far. New Zealand started the tournament against the hosts India in Nagpur and then they played their next two games in Dharamshala and Mohali respectively.
They played their final group game against Bangladesh in Kolkata and they have to play the semifinal in Mumbai. So it has been a strenuous schedule for the Kiwis in this world cup. However, they showed tremendous adaptability to the conditions and are the only unbeaten team in the tournament.
England have been blessed by circumstance: Atherton
"New Zealand have had to play very traditional sub-continental style cricket, whereas England have been unfettered and blessed by circumstance in Mumbai and Delhi," Atherton wrote in his latest column for The Times, according to a report on stuff.co.nz.
It also reported that Atherton wrote, “Circumstance or administrative brotherly love? Take your pick, but it is probably fair to say that the closeness of the relationship between the boards of England and India of late has done Morgan's team little harm where the itinerary is concerned.” in his column for The Times.
According to the stylish right-hander, England got conditions in the tournament which required little predictability and they also benefitted from the fact that both the pitches in Mumbai and Delhi are relatively fast-paced than most other venues.
England have already beaten Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in Delhi and they will surely take that confidence into the all-important semifinal against New Zealand. They will also have the cognizance of the local conditions which they can effectively use.
However, the most impressive team in the tournament so far , New Zealand will be a hard nut to track given their tremendous strength of adaptability which they have shown in this tournament. Their horses-for-courses strategy has worked wonders for the side and they surely will try their best to dismantle the English team and reach the T20 World Cup final for the first time. They surely possess the arsenal to do so.
However, Atherton touched a contentious topic which has been debated for long and he might have just fuelled it once again.