World Cup 2023: Ageing England need to overhaul ODI side after horrendous campaign

It was only last year on this day (13 November 2022) that England were crowned T20 World Cup champions Down Under. It was a euphoric triumph for England, one that meant that they would hold the ODI and T20 World Cup trophies simultaneously. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table Fast forward a year later, England have had to relinquish their ODI World Cup title, one that they won at the iconic Lord’s by the barest of margins four years back, by beating New Zealand. With their 2023 Cricket World Cup campaign having come to a horrendous conclusion with nine matches, two wins and seven defeats, an era of the England team certainly has come to an end.

England, under captain Jos Buttler, may not have been straightforward favourites to defend their title on challenging subcontinent conditions in India, but surely, semi-finals would have been on their minds at least. Ben Stokes, who had come out of ODI retirement in August, was brutally honest in his review of England’s campaign. “No, I think the problem is that we’ve been crap. To be honest with you, we’ve been crap,” Stokes had said after England were knocked out following their defeat to Australia. Rob Key, England’s Director Cricket, has also been at the receiving end of things. Key went on to say that he held himself accountable for England’s torrid campaign. “I look at what I’ve not done rather than blaming everyone else. I hold myself accountable for a lot,” Key told cricket.com.au., as he backed Matthew Mott to continue as England’s white-ball coach. However, it’s not just their worrying on-field performances that have been a problem for England. Let’s take a look at some issues for England, and what needs to be done: Ageing squad One of the major issues that caused England’s failure to defend their title four years from winning it was their ageing squad that flew to India for the 2023 World Cup. As many as eight players, including current skipper Jos Buttler, from the title-winning 2019 campaign, featured in England’s jus-concluded campaign. Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes were all part of their successful World Cup campaign at home four years back, and maybe you could argue if this was indeed England’s so-called “Golden Generation” in limited-overs cricket, especially the ODIs. Out of this, Moeen Ali is England’s oldest cricketer at 36 years old, and Harry Brook is the youngest who is 24 years old. Harry Brook’s late selection in the squad over the experienced Jason Roy raised several eyebrows, and barring a knock of 66 against Afghanistan, there was hardly anything to justify his selection. Roy, meanwhile, had been out of favour since early this year — His last ODI came in March against Bangladesh in Chattogram. Then there was the 26-year-old Sam Curran. Curran himself lacked game time in the World Cup with just three games all through the group stage, taking just two wickets and enduring low scores with the bat. Apart from these concerns, Ben Stokes’ absence from the first three games of the World Cup due to a hip injury hurt England’s balance big time. A nine-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the opening clash of the World Cup and a 69-run loss to Afghanistan less than a week later hurt England’s morale altogether.

England's Ben Stokes says his future in white ball cricket is something he needs to think about "quite hard" before making a decision ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BFM0XWN6Rk

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) November 11, 2023

Stokes did make his return from injury against South Africa but was far from his best. Even against Sri Lanka, Stokes struggled on a dry wicket at Bengaluru’s Chinnasway Stadium, crawling towards a 73-ball 43 when he should have helped his team accelerate further. It wasn’t until the game against Australia on 4 November that Stokes would rediscover his lost touch with a 90-ball 64, and had followed it up with a fine century against Netherlands in the game that followed. However, these knocks came at a time when England’s semi-final chances were fading, so looking at the big picture, Stokes’ knocks did not matter much apart from those being personal milestones for the 32-year-old. While Stokes remains committed to Test cricket, his ODI future is now a question mark once again. Stokes is set to undergo knee surgery ahead of the Test series against India in early 2024, and it is likely that he will take a call on his ODI retirement post the surgery. Barring Stokes and Dawid Malan, who scored a century and two fifties, none of the other England batters took off. Root did score half-centuries against New Zealand and Bangladesh, but failed to fire when it mattered the most. The same goes for captain Jos Buttler, who failed to score a single half-century. Overhaul needed Things were looking grim for England as far as their pace attack was concerned as well. Reece Topley, one of the standouts at the start of the tournament, was ruled out with a broken finger, whereas Mark Wood struggled for consistency. David Willey was England’s top pacer in the tournament with 11 wickets, and with the 33-year-old retiring from international cricket, it’s time for England to have a potentially fresh outlook at their pace attack. [caption id=“attachment_13382602” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Joe Root has expressed a desire to play in the 2027 World Cup in South Africa. AP[/caption] With Jofra Archer still out of action with an elbow injury, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson will need more game time as England look to rebuild their squad with the next major 50-over competition, the 2025 Champions Trophy, in mind. Even in their batting, England need a new approach altogether. Joe Root has expressed a desire to play in the 2027 World Cup in South Africa, but anything can happen in the matter of the next four years, and given four years is still a long way, nothing is certain. England must look to the future. Phil Salt and Will Jacks are exciting prospects, and with a fresh, aggressive mindset, the duo can add more batting stability to the team. Then there’s Dan Lawrence Ben Duckett too, who can be the best bet in batting for the Three Lions. They are explosive options too. Simply put, If there is a better time for England to rebuild their ODI side, it is now, because you never know for how long the Buttlers and Roots of this generation are going to feature in ODIs.