Less than three full years ago, England stood on top of the ICC one-day rankings. They won as many as ten games in a row to get there, and in 2013 they reached the final of the Champions Trophy. To fail to qualify for the last eight of the World Cup means that something, somewhere, must have gone horribly wrong.
Stuart Broad said at a sponsor event on January 5: “You will have to have an absolute stinker not to reach the quarter-finals.” Fair play to Broad, he was right — England have had that most absolute of stinkers.
The disgrace of the past month could be dismissed as fresh evidence that one-day cricket is not taken seriously enough in England. It is certainly true that the Test format remains a priority. The feeling remains that Test players can adjust to the 50-over game, but not the other way around.
There is still a core identified for all (or at least two) formats. Speaking shortly before the World Cup, Ashley Giles, the former one-day coach, suggested that poor results in the build-up could be traced back to the decision to rest players from one-day cricket with the focus on Tests.
Having taken England to that Champions Trophy final, Giles never again had his full side available. Continuity between series was lost as Giles tried to get through with what he was given. The light at the end of this tunnel for Peter Moores, his successor, was an unprecedented window to hone white-ball skills. England were expected to start the World Cup perfectly drilled.
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James Anderson even said at the start of this five-month period that England would have “no excuses” for yet another doomed campaign. All the way through, players and coaches welcomed the opportunity to practise drills such as range-hitting and bowling yorkers. For nothing, it seems. During this window, England have won four games and lost 12.
Ultimately, players have to take responsibility for their own failures. The senior figures have disappointed hugely: Broad and Anderson have been off the pace, Ian Bell has flattered to deceive and Eoin Morgan is now unlikely to fulfil the potential that led supporters, perhaps unrealistically, to think that he may become England’s best one-day batsman.
On top of that, individual mistakes have been costly: Chris Woakes dropping Aaron Finch on nought to the fifth ball of the opening game against Australia and Joe Root spilling Lahiru Thirimanne on three versus Sri Lanka. The two batsmen scored 135 and 139 not out respectively.
Selection has been indecisive and flawed. The most important change to the game since the Champions Trophy two years ago has been the change in fielding restrictions so that four rather than five men are now allowed outside the 30-metre ring. As the rest of the world has adjusted, England have been left behind.
The problem with Alastair Cook was never his pace during the first powerplay; what he could not do was go on from his starts, significantly improve his run-rate and hit balls over the ropes. The selectors should have recognised this earlier and replaced him as the one-day captain after the India Test series last summer, allowing Morgan time to bed in.
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Because Cook continued to occupy an opening spot, Alex Hales arrived at the World Cup with only seven one-day international displays to his name. It is hard to imagine that any other country would not have been tempted to take a better look at their leading Twenty20 player. At least Hales enjoyed a chance; Jason Roy, the power-hitter from Surrey, is still awaiting his debut.
The selectors were just as indecisive with Ravi Bopara, dropped for the India series, recalled in Sri Lanka, chosen for the warm-ups and then dropped again on the eve of the big event. World Cups do not exactly creep up; we already know the dates for the competition in 2019. Yet England contrived to go into the first game against Australia with an XI who had never played together. Three of the top six had played 40 games between them and Gary Ballance had batted in the middle order only once since September.
James Taylor, who was going reasonably well at No 3, suddenly found himself shunted down the order to No 6, a slot better suited to a hitter in the Glenn Maxwell or Corey Anderson mould. Or, for that matter, Jos Buttler, who was not once promoted up the order, even against Scotland, when England were in a position to post over 350.
The omission of Ben Stokes meant that England lacked the option of a pace-bowling all-rounder to open the way for James Tredwell, arguably their most effective bowler of the past 18 months. Stokes enjoyed a good tour to Australia last winter, even if his form since has been less rich. Variety was missing from the squad with no left-arm purveyor of either pace or spin, or even Adil Rashid to turn the ball away from the right-hander.
It has taken the heavy defeats by Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka to show how far England have slipped. Perhaps it will concentrate minds, though as Moores said yesterday, the focus for the immediate future will be Test cricket. There are 17 five-day games between April and January, including a home Ashes series and a tour of South Africa. Anybody expecting a change in philosophy would be well advised to remain patient.
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Roll of horrors
England v Zimbabwe, Albury, 1992
Zimbabwe won by nine runs
From little acorns grow gnarled great oaks of despair. Eddo Brandes, a Harare chicken farmer, presaged the death of England’s World Cup relevance.
England v Sri Lanka, Faisalabad, 1996
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Sri Lanka won by five wickets
In an era when new balls were treated with Test-match deference, England had no answer to Sanath Jayasuriya’s 82 from 44 balls.
England v India, Edgbaston, 1999
India won by 63 runs
England hosted a party and everyone was invited. But the host team hid in the kitchen and skulked out of the group-stage side door when no one was looking.
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England v Ireland, Bangalore, 2011
Ireland won by three wickets
At 111 for five, chasing 328 to win, Ireland’s challenge was fading in an endearingly amateur fashion. Then Kevin O’Brien slammed a 50-ball hundred and England turned green.
England v New Zealand, Wellington, 2015
New Zealand won by eight wickets
Tim Southee took seven for 33 with Test-match aggression and Brendon McCullum blazed 77 from 25 balls with Twenty20 élan. Deep in the wreckage lay England’s 50-over plans.
England v Sri Lanka, Wellington, 2015
Sri Lanka won by nine wickets
The venue statistics said that England’s 309 for six was 25 runs above par. Lahiru Thirimanne (139 not out) and Kumar Sangakkara (117 not out) suggested they were two decades out of date.
Words by Andrew Miller