Can England Repeat Their Success of 2019?
Ben Stokes’ heroics with the bat, Joffra Archer’s nerve wracking bowling in the Super Over and, of course, the run out of Martin Guptill by Jos Buttler. The opening fixture of the ODI World Cup on Thursday against New Zealand will certainly evoke happy memories amongst England cricket fans of that iconic final between the two at Lords in July 2019.
Agony and Ecstasy: Jos Buttler runs Martin Guptill out to win the 2019 ODI World Cup
In the four years since that triumph, preparations for the upcoming World Cup have not quite gone as England might have hoped; dropping to fifth in the ODI rankings. Despite this, England fans can still go into the tournament optimistic as they remain one of the favourites.
Here are some of the key talking points surrounding the England team prior to that opening match on Thursday.
Can Joe Root return to form?
Joe Root’s place in the squad cannot be questioned. His name alone justifies his selection. It is clear, however, that he does not feel 100% going into the tournament.
In the recent ODI series against New Zealand, Root posted scores of six, nought, four and 29; totals far below his usual quality.
Interestingly, he requested to play against Ireland in the first match of the ODI series on the 20th September. No other member of the World Cup squad was due to play in the fixtures, suggesting he feels he needs some form going into the tournament.
Unfortunately for Root, the fixture against Ireland as well as England’s first World Cup warm up match against India on the 30th September were both rained off. In England’s final warm up match against Bangladesh, Root scored 26 off 40 balls (not out).
There is, perhaps, not as much pressure on Root to score big as there is at Test level because of the excellent and experienced level of batters around him in the ODI team. However, an on-form Joe Root would not do England’s chances of retaining the World Cup trophy any damage.
Magnificent Malan
A strong and consistent opening partnership is arguably the most important tool for any team in any form of cricket. At the 2019 World Cup, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow were incredible and took so much pressure off the rest of the batting line up.
This is why the omission of Jason Roy from the World Cup squad is notable. Roy has struggled with injuries and poor form since 2019. His most recent back problem, which kept him out of the series against New Zealand, was the final straw that determined his absence from the World Cup squad.
In Roy’s place comes Dawid Malan. His steady nature is completely different to Roy’s big-hitting style. Malan is certainly not as exciting to watch but his composure and consistency should give Bairstow more freedom to demonstrate his explosive capabilities. The two, on paper, compliment each other’s batting styles well. The right hand, left hand variation is also an added bonus.
Malan looked comfortable opening against New Zealand; scoring 54, 96 and 127. ODI seems to be the perfect format for him and England fans will be hoping that he will continue his great form at the World Cup.
Pressure on Rashid to deliver
The conditions in India will be a key aspect of the tournament. The dry nature of the pitches means each teams spin attack will be crucial. This may ring alarm bells for England fans as, since the start of 2022, the economy of England’s spinners has been the worst of any team in men’s ODI’s.
Whilst England have solid pace options, with Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Reece Topley, Sam Curran, David Willey and Gus Atkinson, there is not as much spin depth.
There are four spinners in the squad: Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone and Joe Root. It is likely that all of them will be in the starting XI for most games.
England need Adil Rashid to recover from a few recent niggles as without him, the spin attack becomes severely weakened and will not spark much fear in opposition batting lineups.
Experience, experience, experience
With 11 players older than 30, and a combined 971 ODI caps, England have tons of experience in their ranks. On top of this, everyone in the squad, other than Gus Atkinson, has played in the IPL meaning the players should be familiar with the Indian conditions.
One of the most experienced players; Ben Stokes, coming out of retirement puts England in a much stronger position and makes the brilliant batting options even better. He is the man for the big occasion; a game is never over if Ben Stokes is at the crease.
Along with Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid, England have a core of experienced, top quality internationals that have been there and done it before, which should work to their advantage.
Ultimately, England go into the tournament as champions of the ODI and T20 World Cups so are in a great place. With the batting options that they have at their disposal, it would be extremely disappointing if they did not get out of the group as one of the top four teams.
After that, as we saw in 2019, anything can happen.
