Cricket World Cup: How T20fication of ODIs has costed England

NewsSportsCricket World Cup 2023Cricket World Cup: How T20fication of ODIs has costed England

Jos Buttler-led side is under a severe identity crisis in the ongoing tournament and is derailing their campaign

Jos ButtlerEngland's Jos Buttler reacts during their match against South Africa. (Reuters)

Defending champions England after their four games in the tournament have been lingering bottom on the table in the ongoing World Cup campaign. While the format of the World Cup is such that it allows for quality sides to make a comeback into the tournament late in the piece, the 229-run defeat on Saturday against South Africa begs the question if there is a hope of a comeback for this side and also an even bigger question looms which is if it this is a quality ODI side at all? Or Just a bunch of T20 players hoping to make things click?

Eoin Morgan during his tenure emphasized playing attacking brand cricket but never did he start giving players extended runs in ODI cricket on their T20 merits. And also there was never a tendency to treat ODI like an extended T20I. The side knew how to approach different phases of the game and played sensibly when they had to. The final of 2019 was one of those classic instances where England played the game on its merit. However, under Jos Buttler, it looks like a team in an identity crisis and not knowing how to approach format in all departments.

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The T20 approach to 50-overs

When the Afghan openers were going after Chris Woakes skipper Buttler turned to Sam Curran and gave him the final two overs of the Powerplay. The left-arm bowler instead of trying to pick wickets with a relatively new ball resorted to slower ones similar to bowling in the final overs of a 6-over powerplay and the batters obliged and dealt him like a T20I bowler by smacking him all over the park and taking him for 10s. He was never used in the middle overs in that game and was directly brought back into the attack in the final overs of the game which raised a few questions on what his role in the side as a bowler was.

Curran was the Man of the Tournament in Australia less than a year ago however, his ODI numbers have shouted mediocrity; yet the management somehow hoped he would adapt to the format in the final moments in a high-pressure environment which clearly back-fired as he was benched again

Buttler’s toss calls did not help his team either. On Saturday at one point in the game, they had three substitute fielders in the muggy Mumbai afternoon heat. “On reflection, the heat was more than we bargained for.” England coach Mathew Mott would say after the game which was a bit strange excuse given they did warm-ups ahead of the game and practised days before at the venue.

The skipper on the other hand at the toss would say, “Generally a good ground for chasing, that’s the reason behind it.” However, in the last 23 ODIs in Wankhede, the team batting first has won 11 and lost 12 in ODIs which is not much of a difference. The venue has been known to be a good chasing ground because of the boundary dimensions and good batting strip which is a valid logic in T20 cricket. In ODI cricket though boundary-hitting has its value but 10-40 overs is the passage of play when batters are expected to lay the foundation for the final 10 by strike rotation and playing low-risk shots. However, after spending 50 overs in that heat for a side that has not been used to these extreme conditions – how they would have run those quick singles and doubles in the middle overs only Buttler can answer.in,

“Teams get concerned about dew, but that only really affects games in the final 10-12 overs or so,” Deep Dasgupta would say on BBC feed during the game against the Proteas. The final 10-12 overs is not a significant chunk of overs in ODI cricket. If it was a T20 format it would constitute more than 50% of an innings and it is understandable to bowl first but at least in this tournament so far the dew did not impact games.