England balancing act leaves them staring into World Cup abyss

The England team sheet sums up how quickly their plans were thrown out the window. Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone and Chris Woakes all played in Ahmedabad on the opening night of the tournament; 16 days later, they found themselves relegated to the dugout.

Matthew Mott had dismissed the idea of ​​”complete changes” at a press briefing in Mumbai on Tuesday, but England made it three from four against South Africa. Ben Stokes, David Willey and Gus Atkinson made their first appearances in the tournament, with Curran, Livingstone and Woakes all excluded.

Four players who collectively embodied one of England’s great strengths, their wealth of all-round talent, found themselves running the drinks. In fact, Curran and Livingstone ended up spending the majority of South Africa’s innings on the field as substitutes, as England attempted to mitigate injuries and illness.

In theory, this meant strengthening the bowling attack – Curran and Woakes had both dropped runs in England’s first three matches – while allowing England to pick up an additional specialist hitter: Harry Brook was retained alongside Stokes, who will not play a ball in this World Cup. due to his chronic knee injury.

But in practice this meant England were vulnerable to one of their bowlers getting injured or having an off day. When Reece Topley injured a finger in his fourth over, Jos Buttler felt obliged to throw the ball to Joe Root, who had bowled a costly 6.1 overs at the end of the 23rd over.

And that meant that with the bat, England were unusually reliant on their top six, with Willey batting at No.7 for the first time in four years and Adil Rashid at No.8 for the first time in five years. There was a certain irony in the fact that it was their ninth-wicket pair, Atkinson and Mark Wood, who saved face with a 70-run partnership.

Mott’s explanation was that the return of Stokes and the form of Curran and Woakes meant England had no choice but to alter their balance. “We always knew something had to give and we wanted to go for the most aggressive option, which was to try to eliminate them,” he said.

“We knew we were a little light with the bat, but we were ready to back our top six batters, which is our top six batters. When you lose a few in the Powerplay and you’re behind. [the game], it certainly doesn’t seem like a good decision. But that was the method, and we’ll have to rethink that for the next game. »

Speaking to Sky, he added: “We’ll definitely look back and think about it. For a long time, having someone at number 7 who can really influence a game like a Livingstone or an Ali was, without a doubt, the model… but I don’t think that’s the difference between the two teams today. They largely dominated us.”

It was true: England’s defeat was not due to selection. Atkinson and Willey took 2 for 60 and 0 for 61 respectively from nine overs each, and were England’s most economical seamers; based on their performances in the first three games, Curran and Woakes may have proved even more expensive, and they contributed little with the bat either.

Alternatives were rare. Stokes’s much-anticipated return proved a non-event – he hit 5 off 8 balls, going out with England 23 for 2 in pursuit of 400 – but his inclusion was a necessity, as Mott l repeatedly described as “forced change”. “. With Brook being the only batter to show any effort in the loss to Afghanistan, a lineup change was inevitable.

But the balance of the team – or lack thereof – revealed the extent to which England have lost their identity in ODIs. Batting has always been their strength and the choice of several all-rounders freed their top order to follow their attacking instincts: the team facing South Africa looked like neither.

Four years ago, England used 13 players in the 2019 World Cup; After four tournament matches, they have already used all 15 players from their initial squad. Consistency of selection was once a feature of their white-ball system, but England determined that it would be difficult to achieve this in India due to the diversity of conditions.

“Our message has been very clear: We will go from place to place and pick the best team we think,” Mott said. “I’m not afraid of the fact that the balance of this team was a little compromised today… That’s what happens when you lose: every decision is questioned. When you win, you can move on a little silently, but we paid heavily for it today.

Mott also explained that England opted for a fourth seamer, rather than a spin-bowling all-rounder, because she believed South Africa would be vulnerable against pace. “Looking at our confrontations with South Africa, we wanted to go a little faster,” he said. “We thought that was our best way to take wickets throughout the innings.”

Instead, England’s seamers conceded 8.42 runs per over collectively, while their spinners conceded 6.74 per over. It was further evidence of the extent to which they misread the conditions, added to their decision to play first in the afternoon sun, which Mott said was “pretty unanimous”.

Mott also admitted frustration that England play so little ODI cricket: they played 42 ODIs between the 2019-23 World Cups, compared to 88 in the 2015-19 cycle, and almost none with a team at full share available. “I wish we played a bit more cricket, if I’m honest,” he said.

“When you’re trying to get your combinations and your confidence, certainly, the more you can play together – and win and lose before the playoffs – is going to help you…we knew coming into this tournament we were guessing a little bit; knew with the selections, to be able to compare different players.

But Mott can do nothing about the perceived systemic problems over the next three weeks. Instead, he must convince his players that, as he told the press, “they are still really good”, good enough to win their next five group stage matches, starting on Thursday against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru.

“I still think we picked our best 15 and I still think we can win this tournament,” Mott insisted. “But the situation needs to be reversed fairly quickly.”