(ESPNCRICINFO) – Jordan Cox has spent the past 10 months desperate for another chance in international cricket and grasped this end-of-season opportunity. He cracked 55 off 35 balls at a sold-out Malahide, setting up another comfortable England win to seal this series 2-0, after their spinners restricted Ireland to 154.
Named in squads across formats last summer, Cox’s first five England innings revealed an apparent vulnerability against the short ball and brought him just 37 runs. He was on the cusp of a Test debut in New Zealand last November when he fractured his thumb in the nets, and later sought help from a psychologist to help him get over the disappointment of being ruled out of the series.
But he has thrived for Essex this year – he has hit three hundreds in the County Championship and one in the Blast – and was a late addition to this squad after he was named MVP in the Hundred. Handed his chance in Dublin, with Oval Invincibles team-mate Sam Curran absent on best-man duties at a friend’s wedding, Cox produced his first convincing knock in an England shirt.
Cox’s partnerships of 57 and 49 with Phil Salt and Tom Banton respectively removed any sense of jeopardy from England’s chase after Curtis Campher’s stunning early catch – diving full-stretch to his right at short extra cover – removed Jos Buttler for a second-ball duck. Cox batted through discomfort after jarring his knee while taking a catch; his only frustration was that he could not quite take England home himself.
Instead, it was Banton who calmly knocked the winning single into the leg side to seal a six-wicket win with 17 balls unused and duly finishing unbeaten on 37. The singular blemish for England was a second unconvincing white-ball debut of the month for Sonny Baker, whose first four overs in T20Is cost 52 runs.
Cox steps up
Cox has had dreadful luck with injuries. He had not played since the Hundred final due to a minor rib injury, and felt soreness in his knee after taking a catch at midwicket early in Ireland’s innings. He then jarred it on the soft outfield while taking a second, and spent the last two overs off the field receiving treatment.
But after Friday’s rain cost him another chance to play for England, he resolved to bat through the pain. “There wasn’t a chance that I wasn’t going to bat, because I might have had to wait another two years,” Cox said. He hit four sixes, including two pick-ups over backward square leg, in his 31-ball half-century.
The key, he said, was pretending that he was wearing Oval Invincibles teal instead of England red. “I was just like, ‘Come on, this is just franchise cricket and I’m playing for the Oval, so just enjoy it and have a bit of fun.’ That’s what I do when I’m there. Why not try it everywhere?”
Cox looks set to miss the cut when England name their Ashes squad next week, but hopes to be involved in their white-ball tour to New Zealand next month: “I’d love to play for England, whatever that is … My goal, and what I want to achieve in my career, is [to be] in an England shirt.”