England's ODI cricket: After a third-straight series defeat in the West Indies, how do England fix their 50-over cricket?

7 November 2024, 16:08 | Updated: 8 November 2024, 09:49

What is going wrong with England's ODI side and how can they turn things around?

Wednesday's eight-wicket hammering at the hands of the West Indies in Barbados consigned England to a third consecutive ODI series defeat and after a 13th loss in their last 20 games inclusive of the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

It's all a far cry from the team that topped the world rankings on their way to a first 50-over World Cup victory on home soil four years prior.

With Test head coach Brendon McCullum to take over both white-ball roles from January, what would he have learnt from England's latest 50-over hiccup - and what needs fixing?

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Pick your best team!

This sounds simple enough, but since that 2019 World Cup win, England have rarely put out a full-strength side in the 50-over format, the likes of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer regularly absent for, in their cases, rest, retirement (albeit briefly) and repeated injuries.

After England's debacle of a World Cup defence in which they beat only Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Pakistan amid six other heavy defeats, managing director of the men's team Rob Key said: "Every single time the decision has been made for whether or not we focus on 50-over cricket, Test cricket or T20, I've always chosen Test cricket.

"I made the mistake of thinking that actually it will be alright when we get there and that's not been the case. You sort of made the assumption that, without playing lots of 50-over cricket, actually this is such a good team that will just slip into old habits and away we go."

Of the 62 ODIs England have played since their 2019 World Cup win, their best batter Root has played in only 28 of them, Stokes even fewer at 19, with their participation on Test tours - such as the ones of Pakistan and New Zealand that bookend this West Indies series - prioritised amid an increasingly jam-packed schedule.

And then, even among the squad that is selected, England's decision-making is sometimes curious. As John Turner and Saqib Mahmood made way for Reece Topley and Jamie Overton in the series-deciding third ODI in Barbados, former captain Sir Alastair Cook said on TNT Sports: "I'm slightly surprise by the changes.

"Let's take Mahmood, for example. He was left out for the first game, comes in for the second, does okay, bowls quite nicely but is then out for the third.

"We see with the Test team, they're backing players all the time. The one-day team seems to be changing every game. I'm not quite sure what they think is their best team. For me, it's a little bit confusing."

Too many all-rounders and debuts dished out

Sticking with England's selection struggles, Stokes' absence leaves them with the challenge of balancing the team, as did the injury-enforced absence here of captain Jos Buttler - who is expected to return for the five-match T20 series, albeit not as wicketkeeper.

Stand-in skipper Liam Livingstone was shunted up to No 5 as a result and, magnificent though his maiden ODI century in the second ODI was, only twice in his 30 ODIs prior to this series had he been that high in the order… the last such instance coming way back when against the Netherlands in the summer of 2022.

Sam Curran too was in unfamiliar territory, batting at least one place too high when slotted in at No 6 for the first time in his 35-cap ODI career, while Jordan Cox debuted at No 3, a position he has never played at domestic List A level, putting his underwhelming return of 22 runs through the three-match series in some sort of context.

Curran was also used sparingly with the ball, bowling eight wicketless overs across the three matches. And given that Livingstone used as many as NINE different bowlers during the West Indies innings in the second ODI, do England need quite so many all-rounders in their side and could a few more specialists be selected - with bat and ball?

Jamie Overton is another. Having not bowled at all in the first ODI and batting at No 8, his ODI debut was limited to a one-ball duck, before he at least sent down four overs and provided a handy lower-order cameo of 32 on his return to the side in the series decider.

And that's another thing: debuts. England have dished out 25 debut caps since their 2019 World Cup triumph - four on this tour alone - but only five have since surpassed double figures in terms of appearances (Livingstone, Phil Salt, Harry Brook, Will Jacks and Brydon Carse). The likes of Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson also look to have bright futures, though their Test success will now limit their white-ball involvement somewhat.

It's too early to tell with Cox, Overton is a threat with bat and ball when fit, Turner bowled nicely and with pace in the second ODI, while Dan Mousley's maiden fifty in Barbados hinted at a bright future. But the pathway for all of them needs to be clear, so that they're not soon consigned to the scrap heap a la Tom Banton, Sam Hain and George Scrimshaw before them.

The challenges of the ever-crowded cricket schedule

A large reason behind the swathe of England ODI debutants over the last five years has been the increasingly congested international schedule - not exactly aided by the Covid pandemic in 2020.

The requirement at that time for separate squad bubbles between Test and white-ball teams necessitated a larger player pool to pick from, while it also allowed for ODI and T20 series to be played almost simultaneously to Test matches.

While we don't have the same set of circumstances four years on, the gap between Test and white-ball tours is ever shrinking, with there being just three days separating the scheduled end of England's tour of Pakistan and the West indies, while their next Test series in New Zealand starts 11 days after the final T20 in St Lucia.

"How we get the balance right is really challenging because the volume of international cricket and everything else that goes around it, that's not easy to do," interim head coach Marcus Trescothick told TNT Sports after the series loss to the West Indies.

"Guys have just finished the Test series in Pakistan. There is another Test series starting in 20 days' time."

"For the powers above to try and balance that structure and get that right, it's something for them to look at but it's not going to be easy."

And this is precisely why England can so rarely pick their strongest side. Though the crammed calendar is not a unique problem to them, other teams tend to benefit from periods of rest at least during the English summer (unless touring there themselves), as cricket in the Caribbean, Africa, the sub-continent and the southern hemisphere is usually favoured for the winter months - a time where England too are busy touring these places, making their schedule uniquely year-round.

Looking at that challenge through a more positive lens, Trescothick added: "We look at the opportunity to get a few games into them [players with less experience], so we can see these guys that may potentially impact the team in the future.

"It is good to see them playing under pressure and against a good West Indies team."

This is true, but the schedule has already got its claws into the fledgling careers of the likes of Jacob Bethell, Cox and Mousley too, with the IPL and the introduction of The Hundred pushing county cricket increasingly to the margins of the summer - particularly the domestic 50-over competition which clashes with The Hundred.

It means that England's next generation of 50-over talents actually have very little experience of the format itself.

Curran quipped that when Mousley joined him in the middle with 15 overs to go in England's innings in the first ODI that the debutant "almost admitted himself he hadn't actually played loads of 50-over cricket… guys are learning."

Taking the positives!

Given Mousley's limited experience - the 23-year-old having played only three List A games prior to this tour and none in three years - his maiden fifty to help rescue England from 94-5 and towards 263 in the final ODI was hugely encouraging.

As was Livingstone's magnificent, unbeaten 124 - off just 85 balls - to win the second ODI, and the fact that Archer, though not at his best during the series, came through three matches in row for the first time in a series since his reintroduction to the team this year after a persistent elbow injury.

Salt ended the series with back-to-back fifties to see him peaking just in time for the five-match T20 series, traditionally his favourite format, while 21-year-old Bethell again flashed his considerable talent in scoring 55 in the second ODI.

We haven't seen the talents yet of 22-year-old Yorkshire leg-spinner Jafer Chohan on this tour, but could be set to in the T20s, along with Essex wicketkeeper-batter Michael Pepper, while the return of Buttler - both as captain and with his considerable batting brilliance - is a big bonus.

A T20 series win to finish the tour wouldn't solve England's 50-over failings but it would certainly make this young group feel better about things - the same squad of 17 selected, barring Buttler's inclusion in place of the New Zealand-bound Cox.

Plus, there's McCullum's arrival on the horizon and the promise of Bazball-style bounce that so aided the Test team.

England had won only one Test in their previous 17 prior to his appointment as head coach in the summer of 2022, a crisis of such epic proportions that this current ODI blip of theirs would barely even register.

Under McCullum since, the Test team proudly boast 20 wins, 11 defeats and a solitary draw, with 11 of those victories coming in his first 13 matches in charge before results have begun to fluctuate a touch more since the 2023 Ashes.

There can be no doubting the immediate and profound impacts he has had on the group and this young, talented white-ball side are ripe to reap the same rewards.