DEREK PRINGLE
@derekpringle
England’s ignominious exit from the T20 World Cup had been signposted for a while. From the moment the 50-over team’s tame defence of their world title fizzled out in India last year, there have been worries that for all the talent England supposedly possess in white-ball cricket those in charge are unable to harness it. Such doubts have not been misplaced.
To lose to India is no disgrace as they are a crack outfit full of potential match-winners. But to lose by 68 runs after you have won the toss is a shellacking that speaks of failings other than poor form or bad luck on the day.
At the heart of these shortcomings are England’s captain and coach Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott. The duo seemed an apt pairing when England won the T20 World Cup two years ago, but the poor defence of that title and the terrible showing in the 50-over World Cup suggests the mix of two passive personalities does not work, lacking combustibility as it does.
Mott’s time in charge reminds me of the ill-fated tenure of Peter Moores as England’s coach when Kevin Pietersen was captain. Moores was data driven (though not to the same obsessive extent as now) but lacked the experience of having played international cricket. That second point is overlooked when everything is going well but is questioned the moment they don’t and not only by those without a vested interest. Once the players feel you’re out of your depth, the game is up.
Buttler is a magnificent batter but both he and Mott seem poor at making those snap and instinctive decisions that turn matches. Would others be better? I’ve no idea but England have two years to rebuild and blood a successor – maybe Harry Brook, Sam Curran or Will Jacks – before another global tournament tests the set-up, a hiatus ruthless teams would use to effect change.
Some apologists reckon England were unlucky in the semi-final, pointing to the pitch as being heaven sent for India’s spinners. But 70 per cent of England’s team currently play in the Indian Premier League so such conditions, as well as India’s players, should be very familiar to them. Mind you, it invokes Graham Gooch’s take on Shane Warne who mostly bowled leg-breaks because his googly was easy to pick. “You might know which way it’s going to spin,” said Gooch, “but you’ve still got to play it.”
The poor defence of their title and the terrible showing in the 50-over World Cup suggests the mix of two passive personalities does not work, lacking combustibility as it does
Another failing is the sidelining of so-called ‘experience’ among the senior players, something I put down to the modern obsession with data analysis and the inflexibility it brings to a player’s thinking, or indeed their lack of thinking.
India’s captain Rohit Sharma was adamant that he would have batted first if he’d won the toss despite most teams chasing in the IPL, the T20 mothership. His reason was that a hot sun on a dry pitch would make spinners trickier to face not easier, and so it proved. It was a decisive assessment his team immediately bought into and they played accordingly, their sights always set on a total of 150-160, a score they eventually exceeded due to England overdoing the slower ball.
Buttler felt the opposite and then said afterwards that he wished he’d bowled Moeen Ali after the success enjoyed by India’s three spinners. Had he batted first he’d have had that intel, but even without it England’s two spinners did a good enough job to warrant him trying Mooen for at least a few overs.
That he didn’t bowl one of his most experienced bowlers seemed a pre-determined decision made, one assumes, by England’s analysts, who would have no doubt told Buttler that Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav eat off-spinners for breakfast. Maybe so, but on that pitch it would have been much harder to do.
I reckon the analysts are also behind Buttler’s rigid need to chase whenever he wins the toss, their obsession with narrowing options and decisions for players is understandable but also limiting in a format that increasingly demands expansive self-expression.
Having all these pre-determined plans and match-ups based on the data sounds very professional but the beauty of cricket is that conditions shift almost by the over. As such it demands improvisation of thought and deed as well as that intangible loathed by empiricists, gut feel. By the looks of it, England’s players have lost those skills, their brains filled with stuff that becomes obsolete the moment it is processed.
ADIL FOR TESTS? IT’S NOT SO RASH
One key player missing from England’s T20 squad in the Caribbean but essential to them winning the trophy two years ago was Ben Stokes. As Test captain, Stokes would have watched his old teammates’ title defence with a mix of disappointment and envy, the latter emotion a result of him not having a spinner as complete as Adil Rashid to call upon for the country’s red-ball challenges.
Adil, one of the few England players to have an excellent tournament, has played Test cricket previously (19 Tests) but has largely been found wanting, mostly because his economy rate in the first innings of matches, when the ball doesn’t turn much, was too high (between four and five runs an over). Basically, his captains felt nervous about bowling him, as back then a boundary ball was never far away.
But two things have happened since Rashid played his last Test in 2019. He has become a much better bowler with far greater control over his variations, while Stokes has encouraged a brand of Test cricket that makes four runs an over seem positively miserly. Together, they mean Rashid would walk into a Stokes-led Test side if available.
And therein lies the rub. Rashid had an operation on his bowling shoulder (successful) a few years ago so may not want to burden his body again with tough Test cricket. Not that Stokes and Brendon McCullum are likely to overburden him if he did return. The pair are so progressive they probably wouldn’t even insist he plays county cricket as a pre-requisite.
It is a tantalising prospect given the very fine bowler Rashid has become. It would certainly make Stokes’ team of Bazballers a more rounded prospect while improving their chances of challenging for a top two place in the World Test Championship. Even if Rashid doesn’t run through sides he’d improve the over-rate, without whose penalties England would be fourth in the table instead of bottom.
Come on Adil – your Test team needs you.
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