There is room to improve but England have tools to deliver
Despite losing the series – and with issues to address – there is plenty for England to be positive about, says Tim Wigmore
England’s recent record in ODI cricket in India is horrendous. Before this trip, they had lost 21 matches, and won only three, in the country since 2002. In this context, two tight defeats and one narrow victory in the three games constituted an admirable display from England. After the series, captain Eoin Morgan saw enough to proclaim it the best England limited-overs side he has ever played in.
The matches confirmed just how astonishing the evolution in English one-day cricket has been. England scored 1,037 runs across the three ODIs. With every innings, it came to seem more incongruous that their run to the final of the 2013 Champions Trophy was underpinned by Jonathan Trott who, for all his qualities at No.3, had a strike rate of just 77.06 in his career.
Yet, even as they topped 300 with ease on three occasions, it felt as if England could have done rather better. Morgan said that he did not feel England had batted at their best and, such are the stunning possibilities of this batting line-up, it was hard to argue. The defining statistic of the series, was not so much 2-1 as 4-1: India’s advantage in centuries over England.
No one embodied the mix between great achievement and frustration over not achieving more than Jason Roy. He made three sumptuous 50s, each time scoring at over a run-a-ball through little more than exquisitely timed orthodox shots but, to his evident consternation, did not convert any into a century.
Only five times in Roy’s 34 ODI innings has he batted beyond 20 overs, yet he has still made 1,329 at an average of 41.53, with a strike rate of 105.55 – no other batsman in ODI history has scored over 1,000 runs while averaging more than 40 and scoring at over a run-a-ball. These figures attest to Roy already being very good; were he only less prone to squandering his wicket when set, he would be capable of matching David Warner’s consistent ability to define matches with his blade. In the new ODI age, sprightly 70s impact a match, but seldom leave an indelible mark.
Morgan, to his huge credit, was the only England batsman who went on to reach a century, his first since June 2015. Before the series, he admitted that his decision, when given a free choice, not to tour Bangladesh for security reasons, left his family feeling “very offended” by the criticism.
Never did he look like it would affect him. And in Cuttack, Morgan scored one of the great futile England ODI innings.
There was the meticulous placement, and scampering between the twos. There were the five thundering sixes, four between long on and deep mid-wicket, and each causing the heaving crowd of 41,000 to fall silent. Most of all, though, there was the unrelenting, methodical focus on the target. Rarely can any man ever have celebrated an international century with such complete disinterest as Morgan did here.
Perhaps the only batsman to leave the ODI series without their reputation enhanced was Alex Hales. After a nonwinter – he opted out of the Bangladesh tour, and then was unable to win a Big Bash contract – Hales made two low scores before being injured for the final ODI and going home; he might yet have to miss the tour of the Caribbean, too.
He will be loathe to to do so because it is just about conceivable – especially given the huge discrepancy in fielding between the two – that Sam Billings could yet usurp him for the Champions Trophy. Jonny Bairstow, who made a bustling halfcentury at No.3 in the final ODI after Joe Root missed the game with a niggle, will also be attempting to force his way into the first choice XI.
These, though, are enviable decisions for England to face. They do so from a position of huge strength. England have now reached 300 in nine of their last 11 innings batting first, dating back to November 2015, during which time their average first innings score is 329.
If only their bowling was worthy of similar acclaim. In India, no bowler went at fewer than six an over, with Chris Woakes’ economy rate of 6.39 the best of any seamer. Stuart Broad – whose performances in the Big Bash League were praised by Morgan, who claimed he certainly could be an option for the future – and Steven Finn are among those who will hope for recalls for the squad to tour the West Indies next month, allowing them to press their prospects of Champions Trophy selection.
Woakes emerged with the best series of any of the seamers, ending the final ODI without conceding a run in four balls as England won by five runs, and taking 3-14 in a brilliant opening spell in Cuttack. The puzzle was why he was taken off after only five overs when bowling so well. The lesson is surely that, so batsmanfriendly are the death overs in ODIs now, that any bowler taking wickets earlier should be persevered with. Woakes, taken off at 39-3 after an outstanding five-over spell, returned with India at 217-3, and the game having taken on an utterly different complexion.
David Willey is emerging as a particular concern. While he remains a zesty new-ball operator capable of productive swing, he clearly lacks the confidence of Morgan to deliver a good second spell, and with good reason. According to CricViz, Willey’s average between the 11th and 40th over is 63.40, with an economy rate of just under six. He only bowled 11 overs across the first two matches, and his starting berth for the Champions Trophy now seems in serious jeopardy.
But the biggest puzzle was the treatment of Adil Rashid. Since the start of 2016 he has taken 29 wickets – more than any other England bowler – in ODIs at an average of 30.06, and an economy rate of 5.33. In the modern one-day game, these amount to outstanding numbers and worthy of confidence from the management. When he was dropped, after admittedly being poor in Pune, it was possible to see shades of England panic before tournaments past – the notorious decision to drop Nick Knight, the first choice opener for the previous three years, before the 1999 World Cup, or the 11th hour reshuffle before the 2015 debacle. It now seems as if Rashid will only play when conditions suit, which could yet mean he doesn’t feature in June’s Champions Trophy at all.
England’s fielding, too, was disappointing. Hales and Jake Ball notably lagged behind their team-mates in the field. Indeed, one of the abiding memories of the tour, especially after he dropped Virat Kohli at fine leg in Kolkata,
“David Willey is becoming a particular concern. He remains a zesty new-ball operator, but lacks the confidence of Morgan to deliver a good second spell “
has been of Ball being given catches by Trevor Bayliss, who has occasionally been left exasperated. One of the main reasons Bayliss was brought in was to improve England’s fielding. It remains an unfinished revolution.
The same could be said of the wider ODI team. It is salutary to reflect that England, for all their sterling progress of late, are still only ranked fifth in one-day internationals. Real affirmation of the transformation in English 50-over cricket will only come when England win their first global event in ODI cricket.