The defending champions, England had a torrid run in the marquee tournament. Jos Buttler‘s unit has lost 5 matches out of 6 in the ODI WC 2023 and is languishing at the bottom of the points table. Jos Buttler has looked clueless in a tough situation and it won’t be wrong to say that the sudden retirement of Eoin Morgan in 2022 didn’t help the team. It looked as if there was extra responsibility on Jos Buttler as Jos Buttler’s natural attacking game took a bad hit.
England has got themselves to blame and the side looked overconfident heading into the competition as experts like Ian Chappell, Michael Vaughan & rest gave the tag of favorites to the Britishers. England would be shell-shocked as we all know that apart from winning and losing, there must be a fight shown by the players which was blatantly missing by a powerful unit that looked powerless.
Failure of Ben Stokes
It looked as if the flamboyant all-rounder wasn’t ready for the uphill challenge. Against India, we all witnessed how he badly struggled against the speedster Mohammed Shami and later eventually his stumps were crashed. We can also point out that Ben Stokes’ U-turn from retirement didn’t help the side as the left-handed batter had bid adieu to the sport in 2022.
We are forgetting that ODI cricket requires immense mental application and it’s not the T20 & T20I cricket where a couple of players can take the team home. Ben Stokes’ inability to bowl also hurt Jos Buttler & management as Stokes is someone who is not only a match-winner but can contribute in all the 3 facets of the game. Jos Buttler & management didn’t have fixed batting positions of batters which raised a lot of eyebrows.
Jason Roy’s absence & ECB’s ego
England Cricket Board (ECB) perhaps made one of the biggest selection blunders by dropping the experienced campaigner Jason Roy from the squad. According to sources with knowledge, it was assumed & believed that earlier Jason Roy refused a central contract from ECB and opted to play for franchise league which may have played in his axe.
Jos Buttler during England vs New Zealand ODI Series in September 2023 had said that the side is looking forward to Roy who at that time was having a back spasm. It won’t be wrong to say that the skipper Jos Buttler wasn’t aware of the absence of Jason Roy which raised questions over the selection of players which was most probably done in the absence of Jos Buttler.
ECB may have made a statement that they are strict regarding the contract & all other stuff but by doing that they lost a gem of a player for ODI WC 2023. The time has come maybe for the boards to accept the changing landscape of cricket which is nothing more than greed over the nation and allow players to play leagues and come back for national duty for ICC tournaments. Jason Roy is someone who can play the waiting game as well which is priceless and has the knack of playing big knocks for the team.
Lack of role clarity
Talks were going on that the shrewd all-rounder Moeen Ali would be promoted up the order to the No.5 or No.6 position as Moeen knows how to tackle spinners. Moeen Ali wasn’t used properly by Jos Buttler as giving Moeen only 5-6 overs was quite questionable.At the same time, Moeen Ali is someone who can capitalize on a start and has the firepower can dismantle the opposition on a given day.
Liam Livingstone wasn’t able to announce himself on the big stage which hurt the team. There were high hopes for the swashbuckling batter who not only had a wide range of shots but could thrash the bowlers with his brutal strokeplay. Liam Livingstone couldn’t convert his franchise form into an international stage which was quite shocking.
At times, Joe Root was seen bowling which was quite astonishing. The side already had 6-7 bowling options, due to which what happened was that the opposition teams targeted premier bowlers at the back end of the innings. Joe Root wasn’t at his best as his funky shots didn’t help the side.
A wake-up call for ECB
In the latest development, ICC has made it clear that the top 7 teams of the championship along with Pakistan would qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy which is scheduled in 2025 in Pakistan. England being placed in 10th position and having lost 5 matches out of 6, they not only have to win the next 3 matches but with a huge margin as their NRR is -1.652 which is the worst amongst the teams.
We should not blame ICC for this recent development as this rule was discussed with all board members way back in 2021 and at that time, it was approved. It would be quite embarrassing and shameful if England missed out on the prestigious ICC Champions Trophy 2025.