England's rollercoaster ride in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023: What went wrong?

[FearlessRoar]

The defending champions of the ODI World Cup are currently enduring a torrid time in the 2023 edition, having lost six out of seven matches and finding themselves at the bottom of the table.

This decline in England's ODI fortunes may be attributed to the lack of focus on the format. How England managed to reach the bottom of the World Cup’s points table is a mystery that may take a Hercule Poirot to solve.

 

[IndoorCricket]

Well it was down the slope all the time. More like a water park slide than rollercoaster.

 

[Savak]

Not playing enough ODIs to prepare for the ODI WC. Complete over confidence and arrogance. The decision to leave out Jason Roy was poor. Buttlers captaincy and leadership left a lot to be desired. There was not enough research into the Indian conditions. They didn't choose the right team for the conditions.

 

[FearlessRoar]

During the tournament, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) gave contracts to many players from their World Cup squad, but surprisingly, they left out David Willey, who then retired from international cricket shortly after. This created confusion and added complexity to the situation.

 

[JattMaula]

Wrong question. It should be, what went right?

Answer is, nothing.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Form was a major concern. Their rigidity was another. They should have done some changes like batting order changes. Buttler having had all his IPL success as opener should have opened against new ball and imposed himself. I called it out very early. Later Sunil Gavaskar said the same. Buttler directly facing spinner with 3 or 4 down really stifles him. Another aspect is poor pitch reading. Poor analysis of opposition. Probably not good enough to win the cup. But on paper good enough to reach the semis. Far too many things went wrong for them. They should forget like a bad dream and move on with new young brigade. Another thing is adpatability issues. Your batting style has to change according to pitch condition.

 

[RidiculousMan]

They ran out of gas after their last 2019 WC win and also the WT20 2022.

 

[Buffet]

Combination of an aged side and not having skill to adapt in different conditions. I am not sure if their approach would have worked even without aged side in India, but most players are in wrong side of age.

 

[Rana]

Unbalanced batting order+ captain and Bairstow not firing at all.

Opening with Malan is a mistake. He should be at number 3. They needed to keep it simple and open with Roy+Bairstow

Butler wanting to leave his own imprint on a team that was well constructed by Bayliss/Morgan. You didn’t have to be different just for the sake of it. Morgan gone, stokes was perfect for the number 5 or 6 role, not number 4 (coming out of retirement).

Liam Livingstone is a poor choice too for number 7. He’s hardly ever performing these days.

A lot was expected from Harry Brook, he didn’t step up either

 

[Rana]

England probably made a mistake by not taking Liam Dawson. He is a good bowler for spinning conditions who can offer with the bat.

 

[aboveandbeyond]

Not enough 50 over cricket lead up to world cup

Announcing contracts right before the world cup

 

[MenInG]

England's two World Cup campaigns under captain Jos Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott could not have been any more contrasting.

The duo led England to the T20 World Cup title a year ago but now to the bottom of the table in the 50-over version, with elimination confirmed after a sixth defeat in seven and fifth in a row.

England entered the tournament as defending champions - following their thrilling win over New Zealand at Lord's in 2019 - and one of the fancied sides, behind home team India. However, their hopes of retaining the trophy are now over and have been for a while.

Australia may have smashed in the final nail in Ahmedabad but England's tournament was already done following a series of losses, defeats that were insipid at best and dreadful at worst.

They have gone from trying to win the World Cup to trying to scramble into the 2025 Champions Trophy, with only the top seven sides, plus hosts Pakistan, to make that event in two years' time.

England's cricketers, who have the Netherlands and Pakistan left to play, could experience their own Euro 2008 moment - a reference to when the nation's footballers last missed out on a major competition.

That abject campaign, culminating in a 3-2 loss to Croatia at a rain-soaked Wembley, cost umbrella-holding coach Steve McClaren his job.

Now managing director of men's cricket Rob Key must work out whether this cricketing nightmare, one in which it has metaphorically poured, should lead to the dismissals of Buttler and Mott.

Does he stick or twist?

There are obvious arguments for change.

a talented, if aging, group of players has endured such a woeful time. Sky Sports' Eoin Morgan, captain in 2019, feels the fall from grace has been unrivalled in global sport.

Morgan said earlier in the tournament that England seemed "unsettled", while after elimination was rubberstamped he suggested the communication from the team had been jumbled.

"The messaging coming out was always mixed, even before the tournament started," said Morgan. "As defeats then rolled on the messaging was different from every player, the captain, the coach.

"There are clearly small things that have chipped away over time and taken them so far from the game took them to World Cup winners and No 1 in the world. They have continually got it wrong."

Muddled selection. Poor decisions at the toss. Publicly announcing David Willey was not receiving a central contract while he was not only in the XI but one of England's better players.

It has been a comedy of errors at the World Cup, one supporters will not have found very funny. At least the misery is almost over.

Key must surely take some responsibility for the Willey situation but the selection errors and also opting to bowl first against South Africa in the sapping Mumbai heat come down to captain and coach. They built up plenty of credit at the T20 World Cup but have lost some of that here.

England must also determine whether Buttler being skipper is the best thing for such a key asset. Usually one of the most devastating white-ball batters on the planet, and surely his country's best of all time in that format, Buttler has had an awful World Cup with the bat, averaging a lick over 15.

"My own form has been the biggest concern, it has hurt us," lamented the captain, who seems to take every defeat a little more deeply than predecessor Morgan. For England to turn their limited-overs fortunes around, they need Buttler back at peak performance with the bat.

Atherton would keep Buttler as captain

Taking the captaincy off him may be one way to achieve that - but it is not what Michael Atherton would do with another T20 World Cup taking place in the USA and West Indies in June 2024.

"I don't feel like I felt at the end of the Ashes in 2021/22 when it was as clear as day that their needed to be a wholesale change of management," Atherton told Sky Sports.

"Given the close proximity of the T20 World Cup and that England should have a good team in that and a really good chance, I don't quite see where the sense would be in making a rash change, unless they then differentiated between 50-over and 20-over cricket.

"That is something they may think about as we have been down that route before, when Stuart Broad was T20 captain, and there is a need to revamp the 50-over side. But given we have a T20 World Cup next summer, I think it would be wise not to make too many rash decisions."

Key will be thinking longer term than just the T20 showpiece and now could be the time for Buttler and Mott to forge a new side having largely worked with Morgan's group since their appointments.

There will be definite churn, with only four players of England's initial World Cup XV (Harry Brook, Reece Topley, Sam Curran, Gus Atkinson) below 30.

That might be minimal churn ahead of the T20 World Cup but will then surely be substantial churn after that tournament as the ECB look ahead to the 2025 Champions Trophy - if England do indeed qualify - and then the next 50-over World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in 2027.

Morgan had 88 ODIs over a four-year period between 2015 and 2019 to turn England from white-ball also-rans into 50-over champions for the first time but in the same timeframe between 2019 and 2023, the team played just 42 matches, many with a second-string side as Covid-19, plus a focus on Test and T20 cricket, rendered the ODI format an afterthought.

Buttler has rarely had his best 50-over side available to him during his 16 months in charge, with the build-up to this World Cup nowhere near as precise and well-plotted as the previous one.

"When I was in charge, there was a clear emphasis on having your best players available in the year leading up and trying to get absolute role clarity in every position possible. Jos has not had that," Morgan told Sky Sports ahead of what has since become a chastening World Cup for England.

In the 50-over format at least, the end of the World Cup should mean a fresh start.

Expect Brook, Atkinson and Curran - the latter albeit after a difficult time in India - and players like Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Rehan Ahmed, Josh Tongue, Will Jacks and maybe Ollie Pope to form the nucleus of new 50-over England. Buttler and Mott will hope to be kept on to oversee the transition.

Both captain and coach can point to last year's T20 World Cup as an illustration of what can happen when they get things right, while Mott's reputation was built on World Cups with the Australia women's team, as he helped a supremely strong side hold the 50-over and 20-over titles simultaneously.

It is not like England have chumps in charge but after a World Cup so horrid, batting totals so low, and defeats so heavy, neither Buttler nor Mott can have many complaints if they are replaced.

If Key and co stick with them, they will just hope the 2024 World Cup is much more 2022 than 2023.

SKY

 

[Asad T]

Moeen Ali on England's struggle this World Cup and how England cricket should pivot going foward:

“Everything good comes to an end. Maybe the writing was on the wall and we just didn’t see it as players because we thought we’d be performing well. I think if I was in charge, I’d play the younger guys [after this tournament]. I’d just start again and I’m sure they’re going to do that. It’s common sense more than anything. You want that fearless approach again. It’s not just [Buttler], it’s everybody. There’s nobody who has really performed in the batting apart from Dawid Malan, who has got a hundred and a couple of fifties. I’m sure everybody are looking at their own performances and are super disappointed with it. I think in 2015 we didn’t expect to do much but this one we expected to be in a better position than we are now. We’ve just been rubbish – batting, bowling and fielding. Bowling-wise we were getting a bit better but the batting, we’ve obviously lacked runs. It hurts.”

 

[FearlessRoar]

Rob Key said he should be blamed "more than anyone" for England's failure at the World Cup because he prioritised Test matches over the 50-over format.

The defending champions finished seventh out of 10, with their hopes of reaching the semi-finals ended by six defeats in their first seven games.

Key defended captain Jos Buttler and gave coach Matthew Mott his "full backing", conceding he had not allowed them to prepare with their best team.

"That's not their fault," Key said.

"I feel like it's harsh if I turn around and blame the captain and coach when I hold myself accountable for that."

England's managing director spoke at length to the media on Sunday morning, 12 hours after England exited the World Cup with a consolation victory against Pakistan in Kolkata.

While giving a a purposeful defence of Buttler and Mott, Key admitted England had "got a lot wrong" in India, lost their identity and "overthought" tactical decisions.

Since winning the T20 World Cup in November last year, the only time Mott and Buttler had their full-strength 50-over side available was in a series against New Zealand in September.

For series against Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh, players who play in both the Test and white-ball teams were selected for the red-ball format when there was a clash in the schedule.

"It's hard for me to be critical of Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott when I'm the one who, 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," admitted Key.

Having won the World Cup in 2019, England came into this tournament among the favourites but they were bottom of the table until wins over the Netherlands and Pakistan in the final week.

"I made the mistake of thinking that actually it will be alright when we get there and that's not been the case," Key said.

"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."

England's dismal World Cup started with a defeat by New Zealand. There was the brief high of victory over Bangladesh but that was followed by a string of losses against Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia and India.

They were bowled out in all five of those games, as a batting line-up that powered England to the title in 2019 failed miserably.

Key said they went away from the aggressive style that had previously brought them success.

"We have to get back to defining every single role. Who do we want, who is the best player to fulfil that role," he said.

While supporting Mott, Key said the Australian had to get every player "playing to their potential".

He added: "We'll have some pretty honest conversations and say, right, what are you going to do to improve this. But he gets my full backing and an opportunity to try and turn it around.

"This actually should be the making of those two [Buttler and Mott] as a partnership.

"If it isn't, it isn't and you move on but we have to make sure some good comes out of what has been a very poor World Cup."

Key also admitted England "overthought" important decisions.

After dew aided New Zealand's chase in England's opener, Buttler opted to bat second on a slow pitch in Delhi and were spun out by Afghanistan spinners.

Their victories in the final two games came when they batted first and scored more than 330 runs.

"You look at the way that the last couple of games we played, if we won the toss, we had a bat," Key said.

"We didn't know that at the start. We weren't married to a way of what was our best way to go about things and that was due at times to a lot of overthinking.

"We almost probably felt like we've got a good understanding of things here, when the dew comes down and then it actually becomes easier to bat.

"But that wasn't the case if you didn't get through to the dew, if you were six or seven down by that time. So I think we underestimated how tough it was going to be in those conditions and we got a lot wrong."

Their most glaring mistake came when they chose to chase against South Africa, thus subjecting themselves to fielding in the worst of Mumbai's 37.4 degrees centigrade heat and high humidity.

Key said they would have benefited from a coach with "local knowledge" in the dressing room.

"When you get to somewhere like Mumbai, and it all seems so simple now, you're worried about dew and all of this stuff," Key said.

"Actually someone who knows these conditions really well says 'by the way, it's hotter than the sun out there; make sure you have a bat'.

"We got so caught up in what was going to happen five or six hours down the line."

Source: BBC Sports

 

[pratiktc]

They took a big bet that Moeen, Sam Curran and Liam would fit well into ODIs and all three became passengers in squad.

Topley injury hurt them badly and Wood didn't have the scoreboard pressure to force batters to go for boundaries off their hard lengths.

But biggest issue was Bairstow and Root having terrible run of form. To be very frank I don't think Buttler was batting too badly. He just had poor luck and kept coming in at near hopeless situations.

 

[FearlessRoar]

The exclusion of Jason Roy has been expensive for England at this World Cup. He was a champion player, and they have wasted his opportunity to light up the tournament.

 

[sweep_shot]

They were not very prepared. They tried to treat WC 2023 like a bilateral series.

Stokes retired from ODI 2 years ago and then suddenly came back for the World Cup. It doesn't work that way. Active ODI players should've been selected.

Also, I feel they were overconfident.

 

[Aham Brahmasmi]

Carrying too many over the hill passengers . Many who starred in 2019 were at peak 4 years back , now they have fallen down from that peak and are back at base camp.

 

[Asad T]

Do you think he'll be retained as captain?

 

[batandballbattle]

Exclusion of a proven gun opener jason roy

Buttler not opening, if you were going to sit roy out move buttler up to open with bairstow and have malan at 3

Confusion as to what their best team was, sometimes they went with as many all rounders as possible, other times they went for more of a traditional 4 dedicated bowler setup

Being overconfident on their aggressive approach, trying to smash deliveries not there to be hit

Poor toss desicions, opting to bowl first against afghanistan on a true pitch and again against south africa, having to field in the searing heat and against a side that is known for putting up mammoth totals in the first dig. Even more perplexing when you consider their strength was always to bat teams out of the game

 

[W63L35]

May be because Jos Butler insisted on selecting and then playing his best friends.... Bairstow, Brook and Moin Ali.

O.. wait... never mind ... that was another team, another captain.

 

[OMB]

Bazball

 

[FearlessRoar]

Less than a month since a disappointing campaign in India at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, England skipper Jos Buttler will lead a fresh-looking ODI side in the West Indies.

England booked a place at the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy by a whisker after finishing seventh at the Cricket World Cup last month. Heading into the Caribbean, Buttler is keen to put the 'one bad tournament' behind and maintained that the white-ball squad was in a good place.
"We have had one bad tournament," Buttler said ahead of the first ODI in Antigua.

"It's been in a great place for a long time and you see the depth of talent of guys coming through and you want to help shape that period of white-ball cricket. That's something I feel responsibility and motivation for - to get England white-ball cricket back to where it's been for a long time."

Buttler also stressed that it was a learning curve for him to focus on his own performances as well as the team's when leading the side.

"That's a big learning for me, managing my own game is vital to the team and just finding different ways to do that to allow me to walk to the middle with a clear mind.

"[And] realising that sort of tournament doesn't define you. I've got to use it as motivation and hunger to push myself and the team forward and take the learnings from that. Use it as a positive experience to go into the rest of my career."

The England skipper went on to state that at this point in his career, with a young family around him, he has better perspective and maturity in dealing with disappointments on the field.

"I'm at the stage of my life and career where I have got good perspective. I get home and have got two children who don't really care about the World Cup. It certainly gives you a nice focus as a dad and those things, but I'm a very proud guy as well and have disappointments.

"But you know, life moves on, the world moves on pretty fast. There's always something to look forward to. It's never as bad as you think it is and it's never as good as you think it is."

Buttler will lead a squad that has a fresh look with only six players from the World Cup touring party featuring in the three ODIs in the Caribbean.

"There's some really exciting talent in this team," Butter said.

"Young guys eager to get their opportunities and perform. There's some guys that have not been exposed to ODI cricket a lot, but have a lot of experience in Test cricket, so not necessarily new to the international game. It's a nice blend."

Two of those new guys, Phil Salt and Will Jacks, were confirmed as openers for the first ODI by Buttler with no details shared on the composition of the bowling attack.

The first ODI takes place on Sunday, 3 December in North Sound, Antigua.

Source: ICC

 

[FearlessRoar]

England head coach questions Morgan criticism over 50-over World Cup fiasco​

Eoin Morgan was among the more prominent critics of England’s feeble 50-over World Cup defence in India last winter but according to Matthew Mott, head coach, the former captain’s insight into the dressing room has its limits.

Speaking after Wednesday’s first T20 against Pakistan in Leeds was thwarted by unrelenting rain, Mott was asked whether he and Morgan had made contact since that grim campaign. “No, we haven’t,” came Mott’s reply, after Morgan, naturally still close to many of the current crop, queried his messaging at the time.

Mott, who overlapped with Morgan for the final month of his captaincy, continued: “He was [critical] but family and friends got more upset than I did. Morgs is there to give an opinion. Initially, you take it a bit personally but he’s there to have an opinion and his opinion is actually none of my business. If he feels strongly about something, that’s for him.

“All I’ll say is, only the people within the dressing room can fully understand what’s going on. Once you leave, you might hear titbits of stuff but you don’t really know how the team is operating. I always respect Morgs and respect his opinion. He’s quite entitled to it.”

Morgan will be on the ground commentating when England defend their T20 title in the Caribbean next month and his previous diagnosis appears to have been taken on board. Jos Buttler has recently admitted that communication must improve, while Mott has also drafted in one of Morgan’s past advisors in sports psychologist David Young.

It represents an eye-catching short-term hire, Young having moved to his current full time role at Manchester City after a key role during England’s 50-over World Cup win in 2019. His work included a key intervention before a pivotal group game against India when, with their campaign listing, the players were persuaded to open up about their fear of failure and reminded of the strengths that made them favourites in the first place.

Explaining the re-appointment, Mott said: “[Young] has already been a great ally, making sure my messages are clear. It’s always good to have someone who’s a little bit removed from the squad to make sure you’re landing your messages. I’ve enjoyed that part of it.

“Clarity comes from making sure players stay true to their best game. I’ve never told a player how to play. These guys are much better than I ever was. But it’s making sure that if they’re veering away from their strengths, you can help them get back on track.

“As a group, we’ve made a commitment to be a bit more open in and around our training sessions to help each other out a bit more. I think in India all of us were guilty of being a bit insular and trying to problem solve ourselves.”

In contrast to the Test set-up, where head coach Brendon McCullum has deliberately pared back his support staff, England’s T20 squad will not be short of advice in the Caribbean. Young joins an already bumper roster under Mott which features two assistant coaches in Richard Dawson and Carl Hopkinson, England’s lead bowling coach, Neil Killeen, plus two additional consultants in Kieron Pollard and Andrew Flintoff.

What they will be slightly shorter on is game time before their opener against Scotland on 4 June, with the washout at Headingley leaving just three remaining T20s against Pakistan before the flight to Barbados a week on Friday. The second, at Edgbaston this Saturday, also comes after the deadline for England to confirm their final squad.

As such, no changes are expected to be forthcoming, England confident about the readiness of Jofra Archer after his 14-month injury lay-off and unconcerned that Liam Livingstone and Mark Wood are not yet match fit due to respective knee niggles.

Mott added: “We’re pretty close [to knowing our best XI]. We’re not going to broadcast it but we’re confident with the structure and the options we’ve got. There’s a lot of good batting units out there but ours is certainly the equal of any. On our day, it’s a really formidable line-up.”

England head coach questions Morgan criticism over 50-over World Cup fiasco

Eoin Morgan was among the more prominent critics of England’s feeble 50-over World Cup defence in India but according to Matthew Mott, head coach, the former captain’s insight into the dressing room has its limits

www.theguardian.com