Jacob Bethell was already under scrutiny this summer after playing almost no red-ball cricket, failing to score in his solitary Test match against India and failing again at Headingley in the first of three ODIs against South Africa. In between those two wickets he endured an underwhelming Hundred and, surprisingly, was made England’s youngest ever T20 captain for the upcoming series in Ireland.
So, here at Lord’s, with England two wickets down chasing a mammoth 331 to keep the series alive, Brendon McCullum decided to throw Bethell into the fire at No 4, promoted up the order to save the game. What’s a bit more pressure on a 21-year-old’s shoulders?
Bethell’s response was to unleash a breathtaking innings of aggression and precision, taking the game to South Africa’s bowlers who included the No 1-ranked Keshav Maharaj, and thrashing them all over the ground.
Bethell’s 58 off 40 balls was ultimately in vain as England fell short, losing this second ODI by five runs. But England were much better than their dismal showing at Headingley two days earlier – they couldn’t have been much worse – and there were green shoots in the performances of old reliables Adil Rashid, Joe Root and Jos Buttler. And, tantalisingly, Bethell.
There remains a sense of thrilling enigma about Bethell and what he might become. Will he grow into a top-order aggressor or a middle-order finisher? Will he dominate the white ball or master the red ball, or conquer all formats of the game? Should he be bowling part-time spin? Is he captain material? And will he ever hit a century?
Perhaps that sense of uncorked potential has leant itself to some muddled thinking at the ECB about exactly how to get the best out of such a talent. He has been pushed and prodded and wrapped up and rolled out. And ultimately Bethell provided his own answer of sorts here: give him an opportunity to bat against the best bowlers in the world and let him go.
Bethell shifted around his crease, leaving the stumps exposed and trusting himself to find the middle of the bat. He walloped eight boundaries including three big sixes, until finally he fell swatting a wide one off the excellent Corbin Bosch straight to backward point.
England had been motoring and the catch released the strain on South Africa’s bowlers. Root soon followed Bethell to the pavilion, stumped on 61 after swinging and missing against Maharaj. Buttler and Harry Brook tried gamely to revive the chase, but England’s bid faded as Brook spooned to extra cover, just as the September sun had set over the pavilion, before Buttler was masterfully tricked by Lungi Ngidi’s slow ball.
The series is over as a contest, but England’s one-day woes are not. Not so long ago they were the masters of the ODI. Now it is their most troubled format, with only seven wins in 22 games since the last World Cup, and both McCullum and Brook have plenty to ponder.
It didn’t help this week that they lacked any preparation before Headingley, where the Hundred finalists were thrown straight into the action without a training session. Their fielding was slack here, repeatedly allowing South Africa to scamper twos from what should have been singles.
Nor did it help that the balance of the bowling attack was off, with part-time spinners Bethell and Will Jacks needed to make up the overs. South Africa hammered them to all corners and they combined for 1-112 from their 10 overs, on a day when England would have benefitted from a fourth seamer in the team.
England made only one change: pace bowler Sonny Baker endured a horrendous debut at Headingley and he was taken out of the spotlight, replaced by Saqib Mahmood. Mahmood wasn’t hugely effective himself, going for 53 runs from his 10 overs without a wicket.
Brook won the toss and elected to bowl under gloomy skies, but England made heavy weather of the opening overs, failing to take a wicket in the powerplay as South Africa’s openers, Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton, made a patient 50 partnership.
It was the fourth-wicket stand between Matthew Breetzke (85) and Tristan Stubbs (58) which accelerated South Africa into a commanding position. Breetzke’s ODI career continues to bloom magnificently, with one century and four half centuries in his five games, making him the only player in history to record 50s in all of his first five internationals, at an average of 92.6.
Jofra Archer took four wickets but Rashid was once again the pick of the bowlers, bamboozling South Africa’s batters with his googly to record figures of 2-33 from his 10 overs.
Yet South Africa’s ruthless targeting of Jacks and Bethell helped them to 330-8, as they asked England to make a record ODI chase at Lord’s. It started badly when Jamie Smith, England’s only successful batter in Leeds, lost his wicket to an inside edge while trying to clobber the first ball of the innings. Nandre Burger celebrated heartily and the Lord’s crowd groaned.
Ben Duckett fared only a little better, failing to settle before falling for 14 trying to reverse sweep Maharaj. From the other end Bosch bowled superbly, recording figures of 1-38 with relentless line, length and a touch of late movement.
Perhaps wanting to keep a left-right hand combination at the crease, or to combat the left-arm spin of Maharaj, or perhaps just to give him an opportunity to play some cricket, Brook and McCullum sent in Bethell. So began a breathtaking innings in which England’s faint hopes were reignited.
It was not enough to save the match, or the series. Jofra Archer tried desperately to carry England over the line but came up just short. But it was more evidence not only of Bethell’s natural talent, which we already knew, but that he can thrive under intense pressure, thrown into a near hopeless situation. Given England’s one-day toils right now, that is an invaluable trait.