Highlighting the reasons for England's sparkling ODI resurgence

The England ODI side has been a completely different one post the disastrous World Cup campaign

10 games – not enough to etch a pattern; not enough to draw a conclusion; not enough to extol a team; not enough to paint a trend on a blank canvas but barely enough to talk about a paradigm shift.

10 games – not enough to make a milestone, not enough to describe a journey, not nearly enough to define an odyssey.

10 games – That’s how many the new-look England ODI team has played since their World Cup debacle where the ODI format held them by the scruff of their neck and threw them out like bartenders do to repeat offenders.

Ignominy surrounded them and Morgan had no words to explain why and how Bangladesh could make it to the quarter-finals and not England in a format that was orchestrated to make sure that the big teams do not fail, much like an exam paper set by a teacher to make sure his own favourite student in the class doesn’t fail, because it is unfathomable that they would get all the multiple choice questions wrong.

But England managed that feat, which should rank right next to finding the Mariana Trench or bungee jumping from Burj Khalifa. But the fact that in just 10 games, England have buried memories of that World Cup fiasco, albeit not entirely and the English fans are happy and upbeat and that itself should say a lot!

All the right decisions

Defeat hurts – That is a very obvious observation. But stuck amidst the crossroads where England arrived on a bullock-cart when most other teams had long shifted to SUVs, it was easy to find scapegoats.

Morgan had a terrible World Cup. Had he been uprooted, no one would have raised an eyebrow. But sanity prevailed. He continued to be in charge of the team and lo and behold, was handed the reins with greater powers and a team that suited his mindset. The team was allowed to rediscover itself, not chained at the elbows and ankles like slaves of an old tradition, but as a free entity.

A decision was taken to shed the snakeskin of conservativeness and instead evolve towards playing attractive cricket in coloured clothing. It helped that Morgan gained some of his touch back playing at the IPL, form that helped him to script England’s turnaround. So much for England, demonising the IPL.

Morgan was given the right ammunition. Players were given security. A single failure was not going to be etched on their epitaph. They would get to live and die by the sword, go all guns blazing without worrying about embarrassing themselves. Against the formidable opponent that decimated them in the World Cup by eight wickets with 226 balls remaining, New Zealand, England had to go through trial by fire.

10 games; And they walked out of the fire redeemed. The score-line of 5-5 doesn’t suggest the beginning of a trailblazing era. But that score-line was earned against the two World Cup finalists. Prior to these 10 games, England lost to Sri Lanka 2-5, lost three consecutive games at the tri-nation series involving Australia & India and then ended 2-4 at the World Cup, the two wins coming against Scotland and Afghanistan.

Now take a look again at 5-5 against New Zealand and Australia and you’ll realise that the unthinkable happened! England’s record since the beginning of 2014, with the win against West Indies being their only triumph prior to New Zealand’s arrival, tells you what the war-torn, battle-weary English fan had to survive before the heavenly manna arrived!

England's recent ODI series' (including the World Cup)

Opponents	Scoreline	Venue
Australia	1-4	Australia
West Indies	2-1	West Indies
Sri Lanka	2-3	England
India	1-3	England
Sri Lanka	2-5	Sri Lanka
Tri-Nation Series	2-3	Australia
World Cup	2-4	Australia
New Zealand	3-2	England
Australia	2-3	England

So what has changed?

1. England have had good bowlers before, but where they have changed is in possessing ODI bowlers – that breed that can field, bat a little and is street-smart enough to get wickets. Ali and Rashid are classic examples, with Stokes, David Willey and Plunkett having their moments.

2. The older philosophy was to preserve wickets and have a flourish in the end. Invariably they never got nearly as many as should have been scored. The new mantra is to go bang-bang from the start, with Roy and Hales capable of exploiting the power-play. In Morgan they have someone capable of blending the big shots with the field-manipulating singles and doubles.

They have an excellent lower order with Stokes, Ali and Buttler/Bairstow capable of going over a strike-rate of 100. That the batting power-play has been done away with has cleared their mind further of all confusions.

3. England have two spinners that can control the game, the flow and the ebb of it, which is a big deal even on non-spinner-friendly surfaces. Men like Dhoni have won a World Cup with that kind of facility on flat tracks.

The spin duo of Adil Rashid & Moeen Ali have played a major role in England’s revival

Win-loss margins

Opponent	Batting first	Batting second	Winner	Win/Loss Margin
New Zealand	408 (Eng)	198	England	210
New Zealand	398	365 (Eng)	New Zealand	14 (D/L)
New Zealand	302 (Eng)	306	New Zealand	3 wickets
New Zealand	349	350 (Eng)	England	7 wickets, 36 balls
New Zealand	283	192 (Eng)	England	3 wickets, 6 balls (D/L)
Australia	305	246 (Eng)	Australia	59 runs
Australia	309	245 (Eng)	Australia	64 runs
Australia	300 (Eng)	207	England	93 runs
Australia	299	304 (Eng)	England	3 wickets, 10 balls
Australia	138 (Eng)	140	Australia	8 wickets, 154 balls

There is a lot of information in that table that will please an England fan.

1. England registered their first 400+ total.

2. England scored 300 in a chase thrice, winning two and almost winning the third if not for the rain intervention that messed with a lower-order resistance.

3. England won big but lost narrowly barring the disastrous series decider against Australia when Eoin Morgan was hit on the helmet.

4. The 192 in a rain curtailed game against New Zealand came in just 25 overs.

5. The series against New Zealand had three of their top 5 scores - their highest first innings total, their highest second innings total and their highest successful chase beating New Zealand at their own game – the attractive, free flowing flamboyant game that made New Zealand a crowd favourite.

Nature of play

Probably that defeat stung Morgan and probably, if he had to go, he decided to go his own way. Probably, he read Dylan Thomas and made a decision,

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

England didn’t go into that good night, didn’t perish, only came out as shining knights. It helped that the pitches prepared were absolute belters, which they were guilty of not encouraging for the shorter formats for lack of confidence in the past. England got 408 in their 50 overs in the first ODI against New Zealand, the first time they crossed that milestone, overtaking the 391 against Bangladesh scored close to a decade before. Long time.

1. England started out regularly with Alex Hales and Jason Roy who gave the team thrilling and fearless starts.

2. England batted deep most often as was demonstrated when they chased down 300 against Australia with David Willey and Liam Plunkett playing cameos at No.8 and No.9. Against New Zealand in the second ODI, chasing 379 (D/L) from 46 overs, England were kept alive by Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett at No.8 and No.9 with Chris Jordan walking in at No.10.

3. The new breed of all-rounders like Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes and Plunkett have allowed England to have more options with the bat as well as with the ball. England, playing at home were seen operating with an attacking off-spinner and an attacking leg-spinner, a rarity in their history. That it reaped rich dividends was obvious when Rashid picked 15 wickets in 10 games, bowling on good batting tracks and often breaking partnerships.

England’s blazing starts

England’s ODI resurgence starts with the fearlessness at the top and a lot of credit has to go to the openers, Jason Roy and Alex Hales. The duo have often given terrific, uncharacteristic starts like 85 in 12.3 overs & 100 in 10.4 overs in the second & fourth ODI against New Zealand and 70 in 11.2 overs & 52 in 9.3 overs in the first & third ODI against Australia. Both Roy and Hales have an electric game, Roy particularly elegant striking on the on side while Hales packing a punch with the big shots.

The captain’s form

Eoin Morgan has been in fantastic form since the World Cup

A team is twice as dangerous when their captain is leading from the front and Eoin Morgan has been doing exactly that. A versatile and talented player who keeps his calm and composure, Morgan has piled on the runs, proving to be the backbone that the young team needed.

His pivotal contributions have helped England believe in themselves, especially when some of them came after successive wickets at the top. Morgan’s scores include 50(46), 88 (47), 71 (82), 113(82), 0(1), 38(46), 85(87), 62(56), 92(92) and 1(retired hurt) – 6 fifties and a century in 10 innings, at an impressive strike-rate.

A batsman like that gives the opening batsmen freedom and the finishers at the bottom a solid platform to launch.

The comebacks

Twice in the two series, England came from behind. England were trailing New Zealand 1-2 before winning the last two ODIs thereby clinching the series. Against Australia, they were down 0-2 before winning two consecutive matches to level the series against the World Champions heading into the decider.

That could be attributed to some of their counter-attacking partnerships that came after a wicket fell and prevented further damage by taking the game to the opposition. There is now a never-say-die attitude that has adorned the armour of many a champion ODI sides.

Here are some of their amazing counter-attacks in the last 10 games which explain how England have learnt to inculcate a spirit of fearlessness in their players encouraging them to play their natural game, no matter what the situation or what the quality of the bowlers. A lot of these counter-attacks came in wins, some of them coming in tough, pressure conditions.

Match	Stage of the game	Partnership	Pair
1st ODI against NZ	202 for 6	177 in 105 balls	Buttler/Rashid
2nd ODI against NZ	275 for 7	76 in 51 balls	Rashid/Plunkett
3rd ODI against NZ	227 for 5	61 in 32 balls	Stokes/Billings
4th ODI against NZ	111 for 2	198 in 157 balls	Morgan/Root
5th ODI against NZ	45 for 5	80 in 57 balls	Bairstow/Billings
3rd ODI against Aus	86 for 2	119 in 109 balls	Morgan/Taylor
4th ODI against Aus	180 for 4	58 in 37 balls	Morgan/Bairstow

Conclusion

The stats clearly show that England’s gameplay in the 10 games after the World Cup is not a fluke. They are results of a conscious decision to adopt a new strategy, a new way of playing ODI cricket, something England has been averse to in the past, something they have been incapable of pulling off.

With dashing wicket-keepers like Bairstow and Buttler, all-rounders like Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes and a skipper like Eoin Morgan who typifies elegant, powerful, timely and calculated hitting, England have found a path they should stick to at all costs.

Call it destiny that they didn’t have a chance for self-doubt quelling this brave approach because results have shown almost immediately. That is a clear omen for England to make sure the joy their fans received, unabated over the last couple of months, stays that way!