Tuesday 30 August 2016 07:32, UK
The England all-rounder discusses England's winning start to the ODI series, 'world class' Joe Root and his 50th ODI cap.
It has been a great start to the ODI series for us. We started really well at the Ageas Bowl, first of all keeping them to 260 on a pretty good wicket and that was crucial to us winning the game really. Then there were a couple of good knocks from Jason [Roy] and Rooty [Joe Root] down there.
It was a great win but the one at Lord's was probably that little bit better, we realised that we needed to improve in a few areas.
Jason has brilliant for us over the past 12 months. He's a tricky guy to bowl at and I don't particularly like bowling at him in the nets, to be honest, because you feel like the ball is always coming back at you.
He's a dominant player at the top of the innings who likes to get the guys off to a flyer. He's crucial because if he does get us off to that good start then the other guys coming in can just continue that and play their shots.
He leads from the front in terms of the way the guys want to play their cricket, the way this England team over the last 12 months have gone about their one-day cricket. He's been an integral part of it and it's great to see him scoring some runs.
As for Joe, he's just a world class player - in all three formats. He's a crucial part of the team and he's shown that for a number of years since he stepped into the side. He doesn't really change the way he plays in each format, he just goes through the gears and that's the sign of a really good player - to be able to do that and swap formats so easily.
It's great that's he's in such good form - he's scored two half-centuries - but he'll be annoyed that he didn't go on and get a hundred at Lord's. It was a match-winning innings though and it was brilliant for us.
He's always striving to improve too. There are areas that he's working on and even though he has scored 60-odd and 80-odd in these first two games, he won't let up on his practice and preparations. He's a true professional.
On a personal note it was really special to get my 50th cap on Saturday, particularly at Lord's. It feels like it's been a long time coming, I started my ODI career in 2011 and five and half years later I've clocked up 50 games. It's a really special achievement and hopefully there are many more to come.
Whenever you pull on an England shirt, it's a special day but even more so when you make it to a milestone and I was really pleased we topped it off with a win as well.
We could hardly have asked for a better start, picking up three early wickets, although there has been a little bit of talk about my first one.
When it happened, there was quite a big noise and I was convinced that he'd hit it. The ball was away from his body and his hands were away from his body so I just assumed that it had hit his glove.
I assumed that the umpire would give it straight away but he said that he didn't hear anything so he has every right not to give it out. But the technology is there and, although there was nothing on Hotspot, there was a spike on Snicko. You just have to go with the decision and it was a great one for us.
I suppose it was a good game overall for me. The most important thing was that we won the game but it was nice to have a good performance in my 50th game - 3-42 and to get the run out at the end was nice as well. I was pleased with my performance, especially as it was another good one at Lord's.
Myself and Mark Wood have shared the new ball so far in this series after David Willey's injury. There haven't been any discussions yet about what will happen when he is back but if that situation does arise then I'm sure we'll have that talk. I'd imagine the decision will be taken out of our hands. It'll be down to the coaches and the captain, that's their decision to make.
I'm happy - and I'm sure the others are the same - to fit into the team wherever possible. Whether that's with the new ball, first change, second change - it's irrelevant. While you're in good form, it doesn't matter too much where you bowl, it's just a matter of being in the side and doing your job for the team, whatever that may be.
Eoin Morgan will obviously have his say in that matter and after quite a few starts in his last few one-dayers - he's scored a few 30s and 40s - it was great to see him go on and make a bigger score and an important score for the team in what could have been a tricky chase.
He leads by example with the way he captains the side and speaks in the dressing room as well as the way he bats; he takes it to the opposition and it's great to have a player like that in the middle-order taking it to the opposition bowlers. It was important for him to get that 50 under his belt and hopefully he can take confidence from that.
Looking to the rest of the series, while there has obviously been some really good stuff that we've done, and there are plenty of positives to be taken, the best teams are always striving to be better and improve.
We're a pretty honest dressing room and we feel like we've still got some improvements to make - that's a good place to be though, to be in a side that is winning but are still not quite at our best.
Something we've spoken about is our fielding. We were a little bit sloppy in the field at the Ageas Bowl - only because we set ourselves such high standards - and the same at Lord's as well. That's the main area where we feel we can improve.
Don't get me wrong though, there were some great catches on Saturday too: Rooty's catch where there was a little bit of a mix up between him and Adil [Rashid] and obviously Liam Plunkett's catch was exceptional, you don't see them very often.
They were the standout catches but we feel we can improve on general things like our throwing and our ground fielding and we'll try to do that in the next game and for the rest of the series.
Overall though, it was a great performance at Lord's, we were a little bit better there than we were at Southampton and we probably deserve to be 2-0 up. It's been a great start for us and hopefully we can continue that at Trent Bridge.
Don't miss England v Pakistan in the 3rd ODI at Trent Bridge, live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 1.30pm on Tuesday.
