Batting: check. Bowling: check. England showed why they are the team to beat in Champions Trophy

Two years and four months ago, England played New Zealand at the Wellington Regional Stadium in the World Cup. It was an ODI that lasted just five overs more than a completed T20 match. England were all out for 123 in 33.2 overs and New Zealand chased it down in 74 balls. Humiliation is an over-used term in sports and is often harsh on the losing side, but on that day, it was appropriate.

That 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand has become a benchmark of sorts for this England cricket team. In the aftermath of the group stage exit after the defeat against Bangladesh, they have built a limited-overs squad that is the envy of world cricket. Since then, England have scored 300-plus in an innings 23 times in the 46 matches they have played, winning 17 of them. That’s a 300-plus score every other match. In contrast, in four years before that, they scored 300 or more, just eight times. Let that sink in.

The 23rd time was on Tuesday in Cardiff against the same opposition that handed them that infamous defeat at Eden Park. This English batting lineup is so potent these days that a total of 310 was seen as a few runs short when the teams went in for lunch. “If you had asked me that at the halfway stage, I probably sort of would have said it wasn’t going well for us,” said Eoin Morgan after the match.

It was not exactly a batting paradise in Cardiff, however. In fact, except when Jos Buttler started doing his thing - you know, the ridiculous scoops over the wicket-keeper and flat-batted swats for sixes – England barely got out of third gear. The usual bang-bang at the top from Jason Roy and Alex Hales that’s become a feature of their recent batting exploits was absent too.

And yet, they breached the 300 work without even playing the full 50 overs. A warning to bowlers of other teams that even their best in helpful conditions might not be enough against this English batting lineup.

But the real takeaway from the win against New Zealand was how the English bowlers stepped up. As prolific as their batsmen have been in recent past, the bowlers were seen as the one chink in their armour. When they ended up conceding 305 to Bangladesh in the first match, that point was reiterated. To make matters worse, Chris Woakes limped out of the Champions Trophy campaign mid way through that match.

But, under admittedly more helpful conditions, Kane Williamson and Co found out that this England attack is more than capable on their day. Jake Ball, Liam Plunkett and Mark Wood barely gave an inch to the Kiwi batsmen. Captain Morgan spoke after the match about his team learned their lesson from the first half of the match, realising that the full ball had no merit with short straight boundaries in Cardiff. So, despite the windy conditions, the bowlers refrained from bowling full, resorting to hitting the deck instead. The result was the New Zealand batsmen getting caught off guard, highlighted by Kane Williamson – by far the best batsman on the day – getting hit on the helmet. On more than one occasion, the ball reared up from a good length and on many others, it scooted low from around the same area on the pitch. The cross-seam strategy paid off for the English pacers.

The only real threat to England was the magnificent Williamson. Morgan showed that he was ready with a plan for the Kiwi captain, placing a fifth slip early in the innings to cut out his favourite dab to the third man. But Williamson was pacing his innings perfectly, taking time to settle in, going at a strike rate of 50 for the first quarter of his innings. He reached his 50 off 66 balls and accelerated immediately after, scoring 37 from the next 30 balls he faced. And when, for the first time during the chase, New Zealand were ahead of England in terms of the scoring rate, Wood delivered a peach that Williamson had no answer too.

With the pacers clicking into groove and Adil Rashid coming back to the team with figures of 10-0-47-2, England showed they have a bowling attack capable of backing the strongest batting lineup in world cricket at the moment.

“You can’t leave any of our bowlers out. They were truly the highlight of the day. Our batting performance was probably par or below par. So pretty average. So I thought the bowlers today as a collective unit were brilliant, really,” said Morgan.

And with the semi-final spot sealed at the same venue, the odds are ever in favour of England making it to the final for the second time in a row. The icing on the cake? They could knock Australia out of the Champions Trophy.