It already seems a lifetime ago that the Cricket Season ended. I wrote about England’s One Day players a while ago and never got around to publishing the article. So the below thoughts were largely written in late September.
As we have been saying all summer, things were different in the Summer of 2020. We make allowances for that but I think England will be slightly disappointed when it comes to One Day Cricket.
Yes, England were in a ‘bubble’ for weeks. And yes, because players could not move between bubbles easily, England fielded second string One Day teams for much of the summer. Eoin Morgan has also spoken about the decision that was taken to give priority to mental health of the team – especially when in a bubble. This is absolutely right, and vital.
A further challenge is the one of not knowing what to plan for. England knew when World Cups would be, and planned to get another run from most of the World Cup winning players. Now it is likely the team will change greatly before the next round of world cups. And who knows when the team will next play?
But England lost a game to Ireland and lost a series to Australia. For me, this has to be considered a failure.
Ireland are allowed to play well and Australia are a good team. The ‘bubble’ slightly worked against England for the Australia One Day Series – as players were jaded by the bubble environment. Whereas Australia were just getting going by the time of the One Day Series.
I thought I would look at a few of the key players. The alliteration seemed like fun…for a while….
Absent Alex Alex Hales messed up and obviously played no games this year for England. His decision to only play one day cricket looks a poor one. But I am not sure England can continue to overlook Hales. In the lead up to 2019, one thing that worked for England was having options at the top. When Jason Roy had a poor run of form, Jonny Bairstow came in. Roy actually only got back in because of the Bristol incident.
In the World Cup, Hales would have been a far more effective replacement for Roy than James Vince. Eoin Morgan needs to move on now – he is perhaps getting a bit carried away with himself in his continued rejection of Hales. Hales is too good not to even get a look in. And I want Hales to keep Roy and Bairstow honest. Competition for places is actually a good thing.
Amazing Adil or Ropey Rashid? Adil Rashid is 32. He is a spinner, but clearly still struggling with the impact of a shoulder injury. At times this summer he looked like the bowler that has had such an impact on England’s One Day Cricket over the last 5 years. But at times, particularly against Australia, he looked devoid of ideas and went around the park. England have to assess how well they can manage Rashid and if they can get him through to 2023.
(Potentially) Brilliant Banton How do England get Banton in? We have not yet seen the best of Tom Banton, but he played one good innings against Pakistan. England may need to be ruthless as I think he has to be in the squad for the T20 World Cups.
It reminds me a bit of the England test match team in 2004 when Andrew Strauss came on the scene. England knew they had to get Strauss in so some good experienced players would have to make way. It may be the case here that some good players have to make way for Banton.
Busy Buttler. Brilliant Buttler. Jos Buttler is an incredible cricketer. Not everyone agrees about his place in the Test Match Team (though for me he is guaranteed a place). In the One Day arena, he is another level. I do not think I would use him as a T20 opener, but if that is England’s plan, they need to commit to that and stick to it. But they also need to look after him – I think the final few games against Australia were a bit too much for Buttler after playing in all the test matches. He is not going to play every game so maybe he could rotate with Banton in T20. But for the World Cups – he will be huge. Future England Captain?
Competitive Currans I love the attitude of the Curran brothers. I think they will be regular England players, though perhaps not playing every game. Tom Curran could be the answer to the Liam Plunkett role. Sam gives the left arm option – but I would pick David Willy ahead of Sam Curran.
NB – The ongoing IPL perhaps has changed this! Sam Curran seems to have performed well.
Just Jofra I do not know why, but Jofra Archer bowls better in One Day cricket. It is often said that Eoin Morgan lets the bowlers do what they want. I am not so sure. Perhaps he does not micro manage, but I suspect he is very clear about roles and responsibilities. That clarity of role made it easy to decide who would bowl the super over in the World Cup Final. Perhaps it is easier for Archer to bowl at his best for 10 overs. Perhaps he has more One Day experience. But I think for whatever reason, Morgan knows how to manage Archer. Joe Root needs to have a chat with Morgan.
Lost Liam Something odd has gone on with Liam Plunkett. The way he has been unceremoniously dropped is very strange. Looking back to that World Cup win, they seemed to be pushing Plunkett out – but they found they needed him more than they needed Moeen Ali. Plunkett was amazing for England in the middle of the innings. They really missed him against Australia.
Missing Mo Speaking of Moeen Ali, something has gone really wrong. Everytime he comes to the crease, you have no idea what might happen. In some ways this is a good thing, and Moeen did play one amazing T20 innings this summer. But at times you need to play to the situation. He gets out playing loose shots too often. Have England messed him around? Perhaps. Give him a clear role going forward and see what happens. Or move on.
Mighty Malan Again, Eoin Morgan has some issue with Dawid Malan – his comments in New Zealand about Malan not taking that extra run was just weird. I am not sure what he was driving at with that – because normally a T20 hundred guarantees your place in the team.
In 2006, Duncan Fletcher played an unfit Ashley Giles in the Ashes. In the grand scheme, it probably made no difference. But Giles dropped the Adelaide Test Match when he let Ricky Ponting off the hook. I always felt that Fletcher was clinging onto the team he had built for 2005 – and that caused some team selection mistakes. Monty Panesar should have played (though he probably would have dropped the same catch!).
I hope that Eoin Morgan will not make Fletcher’s error. The team he built for 2019 will never play again. Malan is now one of England’s best T20 players.
More Morgan I mean, I have been a bit critical of Eoin Morgan in this article. But he is still a fantastic captain. His batting also is remarkable. He does not seem to need practice. He seems to be hitting the ball harder than ever, and the reverse sweeps are back too. When you consider the impact he has had and his style of play even in the bad days of English One Day Cricket, he is the best One Day player England have had.
Rusty Root, Rusty Roy Jason Roy is not like Morgan. He gets rusty – like during the Champions Trophy. This summer he was injured and it took time to get going. At the end of the summer, he clicked for Surrey. England have to accept that Roy is a player who has times out of form. But when in form he makes up for it.
Joe Root is a bit of a worry. All summer, something did not quite look right when batting. He normally looks so natural at the crease. This year, he looked out of sync with bat in hand. He needs to step away and rediscover his touch. At his best, he scores runs so naturally. He is also vital for England at number 3 in the 50 over game. For me, he should leave the T20 format now – though he was crucial in 2016. He just needs some time away. Hopefully linking up with Peter Moores for The Hundred will help – though I would sooner he left that for the youngsters.
Simply Stokes Against Australia, the absence of Stokes was shown. England could not quite get the batting order right, and with Ali failing to contribute looked light on batting. Stokes of course delivers the over all package, even if he lost the ability to field in 2020. But we all know that his biggest impact is with the bat. Those consistent scores around 70 (against South Africa, Sri Lanka, India and in the Final come to mind) in the World Cup last year were vital.
Against Australia we were not looking at massive 400+ totals. Those scores around 280 seem to bring the best out of Ben.
Wonderful Woakes It felt like Chris Woakes came of age in the summer of 2020. We will remember his batting in the first Pakistan test match at Old Trafford. But all summer he bowled well. Along with Archer, he looked consistently a cut above the rest. He needs to be looked after as England will need him in all forms of the game – though not every time.
Cricketed 