Farbrace buzzing about England's 'intent'

Such has been the dramatic upsurge in England's ODI batting that it would be oversimplifying things to put the change down to a couple of buzz words. Still, two phrases stood out as Paul Farbrace spoke about run-filled performances against New Zealand at The Oval and Edgbaston: "playing with intent" and "strong cricket shots".

They may in time come to sounds as anodyne as "right areas" and "building a platform" but, at least for now, even England's jargon has a freshness about it.

England have made their highest-ever scores batting first and second in consecutive matches and it seems simplicity is the key. After a disastrous World Cup and the dismissal of Peter Moores, however unfairly, under a data cloud, it is understandable that Farbrace would emphasise a difference in approach but it was notable that his focus was on the low-tech; gone are references to numbers, analysis and par scores.

"The thing we've talked about is intent, that's all we've talked about," Farbrace said. "We haven't sat down and talked about plans, or how we're going to play, how many runs we want to be at certain overs - all we talk about is good strong shots and playing with good intent. And if we play well enough, we'll win the game, if we haven't we'll lose the game. The intent is the absolute key thing, who we're playing won't matter."

This is a stripped-back, acoustic England and they sound better than ever. After the narrow defeat at The Oval, which left the series at 1-1 with three to play, England's captain, Eoin Morgan, made reference to the number of young players in the side, for whom committing to a naturally aggressive game was "not such a big deal". The likes of Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Sam Billings, all T20 natives, don't need to be told how to get funky.

Farbrace seems to be a coach who knows how people, rather than computers, tick - offer a few words of advice and encouragement and leave the players to get on with things (though of course the analysts remain to provide support in the background). Contributing to the harmony is the fact that England's current opponents are equally free-spirited.

"It's almost the perfect series for us, playing against a team that play the way they do because we're learning all the time, we've got quite a young and experienced side," Farbrace said. "The opposition plays in such a way that we have no choice but to try and play that way.

"They're a fantastic side - they've got high-quality players with bat and ball in their team, they set great standards with the way they play the game and it makes it a little bit easier for us to try and match them, go past them because they're setting standards that we want to achieve.

"We want to be one of the best teams in the world - we're not at the moment but we want to be and that has to be your aim when you play international sport."

A record 210-run win was always going to be hard to follow but even though England conceded their highest ODI score as New Zealand levelled the series on Friday, it was impossible to dampen Farbrace's enthusiasm - just as a wet finish at The Oval could not spoil the enjoyment of a 24,000 crowd. There will be time to reflect on how England's bowlers could better have restricted the opposition but, at least for now, the mantra is one of "intent" and "strong cricket shots".

"I'm as pleased as I was after the game at Edgbaston," Farbrace said. "Obviously I want to win, you can talk about development and improving but at the end of the day you want to win, that's what you play the game for. But I'm really, really pleased with how the guys went about it, because the intent and the way they kept going and the way people down the order kept going, kept playing strong cricket shots

"We saw that again with Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. You err off the stumps and they hit you both sides of the field. And that's something our players have started to do, they've started to take that on. Until you let yourself go and have a real go at it, you never know what you can achieve. It's not gung-ho, we're not just slogging across the line, they're strong cricket shots being played and all the way down the order."

With the prospect of another bountiful pitch at the Ageas Bowl, England should be emboldened enough to contemplate passing 300 for the third ODI in succession - something they have never done before. In recent years, Hampshire's ground has seen innings of 189 not out from Martin Guptill, 150 from Hashim Amla and 143 from Shane Watson, as well as Aaron Finch's 63-ball 156 in a T20. If England bat first, then Robin Smith's 22-year old England ODI record of 167 could well come under threat.

That would surely leave Farbrace purring, if he wasn't already. "As I shook hands with Brendon at the end he said 'It's going to be a great series' and I said I hope so. I really hope it's going to be a great series because it will mean that we've kept playing the way that we've tried to play in these two games. We're not getting too deep in our thinking and planning, we are just playing with great intent in everything we do, bat, ball and in the field - let's see what we're capable of."