Fearless England get it right on the night
England continued their rebirth, after plumbing the depths in a dismal 50-over World Cup campaign last year, by destroying New Zealand, on Wednesday, to reach the World Twenty20 final.
World T20: Brilliant Roy takes England to final
By virtue of picking the correct players, Eoin Morgan's team beat a New Zealand side, which won all four matches in the group stage, by seven wickets with nearly three overs to spare to set up a final against hosts India or West Indies on Sunday.
England simply got it right on the day, something they have struggled to do in recent years.
Jason Roy, Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan were the leading performers. Only Jordan was in the squad at last year's World Cup when England went out meekly at the group stage after a series of inept performances.
"I think the key thing is the selection," former captain Michael Atherton told Sky Sports television.
"These guys have been around in county cricket for a few years now but they were not getting picked. England were rewarding their test players by picking them for one-day cricket and it did not work.
"Now they are selecting specialist one-day players and we are seeing the results," said Atherton.
England rediscovered their mojo during last year's run-drenched home limited-overs series against New Zealand.
Morgan's team scored more than 300 runs in each of the first four one-dayers, playing with a freedom they have maintained and has now made them serious players in the modern one-day game.
There was no better example than in their destruction of New Zealand in the World Twenty20 semi-final.
The street-wise Kiwis raced to 89 for one after 10 overs before superb bowling at the death by Stokes and Jordan restricted them to a competitive but chaseable 153 for eight.
Enter Roy.
The 25-year-old, born in South Africa, smashed four fours from the first over and went on to plunder 78 off 44 balls.
By the time he was bowled by leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, England were firmly on course for victory and despite the dismissal of captain Morgan for a golden duck, Joe Root and Jos Buttler calmly completed the job.
West Indies or India would be formidable final opponents.
For a courageous England team oozing confidence, however, they will hold no fears.
