England suffered yet another humiliating defeat in the 2023 World Cup in Lucknow, their fourth in consecutive matches. Their decision-making and selection continue to show a clouded thought process, writes Katya Witney.
England’s World Cup title defence is as good as over, and has been in reality since their loss to South Africa. For the game that came after that, against Sri Lanka, Jos Buttler made two non-enforced changes to his starting XI, an admittance that their balance had been horrifically skewed in the match that preceded it.
Those changes consisted of replacing Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson with Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone. These two junior all-rounders give the team more familiarity than when David Willie came in at number seven. But with England bowled out for his 156, Livingstone getting his 1 point back with his 6 balls and Moeen getting his 1 point back with his 15 balls, Butler and Matthew his motte again I was at a loss.
The one-size-fits-all plan didn’t work and even after the loss to Sri Lanka, the nail remained there, waiting to be driven into the coffin lid. After the game, Mott said the team “will try to take some really good things from this game, but realistically we’re in big trouble.”
There is little left to salvage except the pride of not having been torn apart by the Netherlands, Australia and Pakistan. There’s nothing particularly touching about a group of players, most of whom are playing the final round of his ODIs, having several disappointing wins in car crashes. To make better use of your time, we recommend adding his two players to your team, who will form the core of your future team.
With Brook not selected for the game against Sri Lanka, England were able to include the all-rounder they wanted in their eleven, but realistically their batting ability weakened. Before the match against India, Livingstone’s best score in five innings in the tournament was 20 runs. Moeen had been sent off again at the World Cup, this time after scoring 11 runs and going wicketless in the first match against New Zealand. p>
England wanted another bowling option against South Africa, but forcing Livingstone and Moeen in the same team at the expense of Brook would not only destabilize the batting line-up even more, but also the rewards they got. cannot be provided. Against Sri Lanka, it didn’t matter what you did with the ball after you were bowled out for 156.
But Livingstone was expensive against India, who naturally wanted more spin options on the turning track, while Moeen rattled off the overs without reward. She then experienced her heaviest surrender of the tournament to date.
Prior to the tournament, there were calls for Brook to be included in England’s World Cup squad despite his lack of experience, citing his talent and the impact he has already had in his short international career. It shows. The fact that he was prioritized over Jason Roy days before leaving the team was a stunning fall from grace for one of 2019’s great players. The three-year contract he received last week is also testament to the central role England will play in his long-term plans. But in Lucknow, he sat on the sidelines wearing the yellow jersey and watched one of the oldest ODI XIs in history fall apart.
Brook was not only one of England’s ‘better’ batsmen in the competition, averaging 32 and 128 in four innings, but he was also one of England’s ‘better’ batsmen when this horror show was realized. He may be the only member of the batting lineup still playing this format. A part of fruition. Livingstone has 30 and in ODIs he averages 30.87 without going over 100. Moeen is the oldest member of the England squad and his status as England’s best ODI XI is beyond doubt.
It’s not just Moeen and Livingstone, but there is every possibility that England’s batsmen will be dropped from the team due to their performance in the last four matches. There’s nothing to lose by eliminating the other young talents in the team, Atkinson and Brydon Kearse. Atkinson was more than capable against South Africa and was perhaps the most controlling player. Flying Khas to India to get a front row seat until the demolition work is complete also seems counterproductive.
There are many things England could and probably should have done differently in the tournament. But that doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is how they rebuild and, in the words of Matthew Mott, “what can be saved.” They can’t save anything unless they try to learn.
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