There have been times during the one-day series against India when England have looked like a team from a bygone age, playing analogue cricket in a digital era, misguidedly believing that the tortoise can, in reality, beat the hare. Why can’t England, who are among the best-resourced teams in the world, if not the best- resourced, produce the players and the game plan to mix it with the big boys of the limited overs format?
We can be tempted to raise all the old cliches at this point: England’s focus is on Test cricket, the one-day game is something of an inconvenience; our players learn to play one-day cricket differently because the pitches here don’t encourage expansive strokeplay; we are taught to play in an orthodox fashion, whereas many of the teams we come across are full of artistic, unconventional players.
The only problem with all those excuses is that by far the most successful team in ODI cricket over the past 20 years is Australia, who have won three World Cups and lost in the final of a fourth tournament. Their focus has never been solely on the one-day format and their players have never played outrageously unorthodox cricket. All they have done is do the basics exceptionally well with the bat, then squeeze the life out of opposition teams with a potent bowling line-up. The biggest contrast between Australia and England is that the former have always played with an absence of fear.
Any batsman who is more concerned with staying in, rather than scoring runs, may as well be playing with one arm tied behind his back. Any bowler who is running in to bowl in the last over when distracted by the consequences of missing his yorker is likely to serve up a juicy half-volley. Any team riddled with the cancer of fear will become dysfunctional. Welcome to England’s one-day cricket over the past 20 years.
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This hasn’t always been the story. An England team won a precursor to the Champions Trophy under Adam Hollioake in 1998. A similarly confident England under Michael Vaughan reached the final of the Champions Trophy in 2004. As recently as last year, Alastair Cook’s men qualified for the final of the same event. In the past two finals, however, just when England looked certain to win a global event in emphatic style, they allowed fear to re-enter the dressing room, fluffed their lines and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Are this current England side any different from their predecessors? Well, there were some encouraging signs in the aftermath of the latest World Cup, when a new team under Cook played with a refreshing ease that culminated in them reaching the top of the ODI rankings in August 2012. It should be noted that such success was not achieved by smashing sixes every ball, but rather by Jonathan Trott and Cook providing the backbone, with more expansive players raising the tempo around them. Friday’s victory was a welcome return to that method, Joe Root playing the Trott role to perfection.
Since 2012, however, the team have retreated once more, winning just two of their past nine series. The fear has returned at the worst possible time, only months away from a World Cup.
How do we turn things around in time to prevent another World Cup humiliation Down Under? On the opening day England face Australia at the MCG. The date: February 14. Does anyone foresee a St Valentines’s Day massacre?
There is a temptation to take out the broom, sweep the cupboard clean and introduce some of the new generation of England players lighting up county cricket. James Vince, Jason Roy and James Taylor have shown that in the batting ranks, at least, there is some impressive depth.
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Unfortunately, the introduction of any combination of these players will have no effect if they walk into a fearful England dressing room. They are likely to be consumed by it to the same extent as their more illustrious colleagues.
The danger of fear, counter-intuitively, is also the reason England should not jettison Cook as captain so close to the start of a big tournament. Removing a leader who remains very popular in the dressing room would send signals to the players that the selectors have lost their nerve, pushed the panic button and were suffering from the same fear as the players.
It would be self-defeating, too, without a clear alternative — Eoin Morgan, the heir apparent, is suffering from worse form with the bat than Cook.
The current skipper is the potential solution to the problem. It was his form, shortly after taking over the one-day reins, that helped to propel England to the top of the rankings. Since then, with his form deserting him, he has let fear enter his game.
Cook knows, though, that the World Cup is likely to be the last ODI cricket he plays for England. In some ways the pressure is less on him than on many of his players. He should set the tone accordingly. The sight of the England captain playing a fearless brand of cricket is likely to rub off on his charges at just the right time.