Batting, bowling and perception: Where England are going wrong

You can come out from behind your sofa now.

Contents

England’s Champions Trophy squad What’s working for England?Opening partnership Adil Rashid What isn’t working?The batting Middle-overs bowling The perception of the side What does this mean for the Champions Trophy?England’s ICC Champions Trophy fixtures

After seven defeats from eight across the ODI and T20 formats, England’s torrid tour of India, Brendon McCullum’s first in charge of the white-ball set-up, has come to an end.

The misery is over – at least for another week or so.

McCullum’s under-fire squad will swap India for Pakistan, with a little spell in the UAE in between, as they look to turn around their fortunes at the ICC Champions Trophy, live in full on Sky Sports.

If they win that competition – their first game is against Australia on Saturday February 22 – then the shemozzle in India will be largely consigned to the dustbin of history.

But do England have any chance of lifting the trophy on March 9?

Here we look at some of the chinks of light to emerge and exactly where things are going wrong, on and off the field.

What’s working for England?

Opening partnership

When not irking Kevin Pietersen with his words (more on that in a bit), Ben Duckett was forging a successful opening partnership with Phil Salt in the one-day international series against India.

In all three matches, the duo shared half-century stands – 75 from 53 balls in Nagpur, 81 from 66 in Cuttack and then 60 from 38 in Ahmedabad when Duckett was hampered by a sore groin.

The frustration is that neither Salt nor Duckett pushed on to make match-altering contributions, with their partnerships cut off by a combination of dozy running and cross-batted swipes and England faltering thereafter. Salt may also need a new top-order partner at the Champions Trophy with Duckett’s injury real cause for concern.

Adil Rashid

England have been through the gamut of emotions and results since 2015, winning World Cups and also performing dismally in them, but leg-spinner Rashid, 36, has been a constant and he shows no signs of slowing down, taking seven wickets across the three India ODIs at an economy rate below 6.50, with a best of 4-64 in the finale.

Rashid’s haul in Ahmedabad prevented India getting even closer to, or perhaps beyond, 400, as he dismissed Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill before bowling Hardik Pandya with a beauty that drifted in before spinning back. If England are to succeed in the Champions Trophy, you sense Rashid will have to be at his best.

What isn’t working?

The batting

While Salt and Duckett gave England lift-off in the ODIs, there was little else to cheer in terms of the batting. The tourists were bowled out six times out of eight across the five T20s and three ODIs and ended up nine down on the other two occasions as frailties against spin regularly came to the fore, a problem dating back years.

England lost 29 wickets to that style of bowling in the T20 series and 12 in the ODIs, with their best individual score the 69 Joe Root made in Cuttack. Sixty-nine is good for a golfer – and England have a few of those by all accounts – but not quite as effective in a cricket match. They simply must go bigger in the Champions Trophy.

Middle-overs bowling

England picked up early wickets in two of the three ODIs – two inside six overs in the series opener and then Rohit Sharma to Mark Wood’s first ball in the finale – but it has been hard going beyond that with most of the breakthroughs coming when India were looking to hit out later in the innings, either to clinch a win or set a total.

There has been too much wayward and predictable bowling from an all-too samey pace attack – a batch of quick to rapid right-armers. A lack of variation has perhaps been a problem with England overlooking the left-arm options and subtlety of Sam Curran and Reece Topley in favour of those who sling the ball down a bit faster.

The perception of the side

As defeats have piled up so has the criticism.

Pietersen took umbrage to Duckett’s comments that he did not care if his team lost 3-0 in India provided they win the Champions Trophy, while he also slammed the tourists for an apparent lack of work in the nets, suggesting they preferred playing golf to fixing spin deficiencies.

The notion that England are not bothered whether they win or lose is surely off, while there are reasons for the team’s easing off at training – an extensive travel programme, injuries mounting and wanting to keep players fresh ahead of the Champions Trophy.

However, perception can often be seen as reality and England fans are understandably cheesed off at not only the results but also the words and actions around matches.

A relaxed environment is all well and good when you are winning, as England’s Test team have largely done under McCullum, but it can be viewed as a weakness when you are not.

McCullum’s style has not yet turned around a side that has floundered in white-ball cricket over the last couple of years, with four ODI series defeats in row following the complete Horlicks that was their 50-over World Cup defence in 2023.

What does this mean for the Champions Trophy?

Perhaps a lot, perhaps a little.

England may not be able to eliminate their spin struggles ahead of the tournament but they should be less exposed in Pakistan with pitches tending to favour seamers over slow bowlers and their gung-ho style of batting possibly more likely to come off.

McCullum’s men will also hopefully have a full quota of players to pick from with Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse – two men who could solve the issue picking up wickets in the middle overs – missing the final two ODIs with a cut hand and dodgy toe respectively.

Plus, their first opponents in the Champions Trophy are an Australia side shorn of seam-bowling linchpins Pat Cummins (hip), Josh Hazlewood (ankle) and Mitchell Starc (personal reasons).

Win that game and things will start to look a little rosier.

Maybe you won’t have to watch this tournament from behind the sofa…