Liam Plunkett says England’s losses to Sri Lanka and Australia were a “kick up the backside” ahead of Sunday’s win over India that got their bid for a maiden World Cup title back on track.
England knew a defeat to Virat Kohli’s men would have taken qualification for the semi-finals out of their hands, but they outplayed the side that recently leapfrogged them at the top of the ODI rankings to triumph by 31 runs, with seamer Plunkett taking three wickets after being recalled.
Eoin Morgan’s team will now seal a top-four spot if they defeat New Zealand in Durham on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup.
“It’s an amazing journey I’ve been on and to think that if you win three games of cricket then you win the World Cup. This team is capable of doing just that,” Plunkett said, who dismissed Kohli for 66 at Edgbaston.
“But nobody is celebrating like crazy, we know we need to go and win the next game and get the momentum going. It is good we’ve had our kick up the backside.”
Plunkett was left out of England’s win over Afghanistan and the losses to Sri Lanka and Australia but returned in place of spinner Moeen Ali in Birmingham and helped his side limit India to 306-5 as they chased 338.
“You can feel a bit frustrated, but it’s sport – you’d rather someone be like that on the sidelines, feeling that on the inside, than someone happy to be not playing,” added the paceman.
“How can you get back in the team? By bowling well in practice. Even though I’m 34 can I work on something else tomorrow that could help down the line. If I do play, hopefully I can make a difference.
“I haven’t got the ability to just come in and bowl rockets all the time like Jofra [Archer] or Woody [Mark Wood]. Some days I feel good with the pace and others less so, but I’m still skilful enough to pick up wickets.
“I know that I’m not going to consistently bowl 90 miles per hour, on my good days I will bowl the odd ball up there, but I feel I control my lines and lengths and assess batsmen a bit differently.
“I feel like I can perform on any pitch. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, I’m not trying to get five for spit. I know my job is to smash out my length, mix my pace up and hopefully pick up crucial wickets.”
Plunkett’s fellow seamer Chris Woakes, who bowled three maidens in a row at the start of the India innings, says a victory in such a high-pressure situation will serve England well as the tournament progresses.
“We knew we had a job to do but of course there was pressure on,” Woakes said.
“You talk about pressure coming from yourself but there was a lot of noise and talk that if we had lost we probably would go out the World Cup. That’s understandable and potentially it could have happened.
“Winning a game like India with the pressure we were under can only stand us in good stead, potentially for New Zealand and hopefully after that.
“You don’t actually play much knockout cricket so to put ourselves in the heat of the battle could help us.
