4 reasons for the recent English renaissance in ODIs

England had a considerable dip in their ODI fortunes following their heroics in the 1992 World Cup and that lean phase continued up to 2015, barring a few success stories in between. They made a lot of experiments during this period as parts of numerous attempts to revive their fortunes.

In the late ‘90s, they stacked their teams with bits-and-pieces players from the county circuit (Remember the initial success of Hollioake Brothers, Matthew Fleming, Dougie Brown?). In the early 2000s, they resorted to the ‘purists' as Test-specialists like Nasser Hussain, Alastair Cook, and Ian Bell played regularly in the ODIs too. But, none of these attempts helped the English ODI team to taste the sweetness of success consistently enough.

Come 2015 and England had another debacle in the World Cup. But what followed thereafter compelled the cricketing world to sit up and take notice. Since the 2015 World Cup, England have played 65 ODIs and have won a staggering 46 of those. From a band of whipping boys, they have transformed into a group of trendsetters in this format within a span of just three years. No wonder they find themselves at the top of the ICC ODI rankings these days.

The following may have been the reasons behind this resurrection-.

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A bunch of fearless batsmen in their armory

With an assembly of power-hitters in their ranks, England has posted and chased 300-plus totals with consistency and with effortless ease.

Openers like Jason Roy and Alex Hales (Jonny Bairstow too, recently) have made good use of the power-play restrictions, unlike any Englishman did ever before. Then they have been blessed with middle-order bats like Morgan, Stokes, and Butler with tremendous six-hitting abilities.

A bowling attack with all bases covered

The English bowling attack no longer has the string of ‘pedestrian’ attached to it. In David Willey and Chris Woakes, they have the bowlers who can take advantage of any early swing available from the conditions.

Then they have those hit-the-deck bowlers such as Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan who are masters with the old ball too. Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali can do the twin job of restricting and taking the odd wickets in the middle overs. All-in-all, the new English bowling attack has all their bases covered pretty much.

The renewed management focus on ODIs

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) can take a lot of credit for this revival. Amidst a lot of risks and criticism, they have completely revamped their domestic one-day set-up and have allowed their players to take part in franchise cricket all over the world.

With the entire focus on winning the World Cup at their home turf in 2019, England is playing a different brand of cricket altogether.

The Bottomline:

‘The birth-place of cricket’, as England is commonly known, is yet to win a 50-over World Cup Trophy.

The sun seems to be shining down on them at this moment and English cricket is certainly heading in the right direction to lift the coveted trophy, come 2019.