After England’s 68-run defeat to Australia on Saturday, stand-in captain Harry Brook urged patience, stressing that Adil Rashid – who has hit for 11 runs in three of his last four games – was their highest run-scorer in ODI cricket.
It was a statistic that surprised even Rashid, who has played 137 ODIs, with the 36-year-old admitting he “didn’t really know anything about it” until it came up.
By comparison, his England team-mates at Headingley played 124 international matches between them, while nine players from the Australian team alone played at least 100 internationals.
“It feels a bit strange (to be the top scorer) but it shows how young our squad is and how little ODI cricket our team has played,” stressed Rashid, who along with Jofra Archer is one of two players who won the 2019 World Cup under Eoin Morgan to be in the squad for this series.
But after two defeats at the hands of the reigning world champions, this is an inexperienced team who are already facing serious questions over their attitude and approach to the 50-over format, following two defeats in Nottingham and Leeds.
Stand-in captain Harry Brook urged patience after England’s heavy defeat to Australia on Saturday
Adil Rashid, who has batted at 11-run average in three of his last four matches, admitted he was surprised to be the team’s highest ODI scorer
Morgan described it as a “baptism of fire” for the 25-year-old Brook, while Alastair Cook said the Yorkshireman “may shudder for years to come” at his “who cares” comment after England went from 213 for two to 315 all out in the first ODI. Australia won with six overs remaining.
England’s carelessness reached a new level when they were slumped on 65 for five in the first 10 overs of the second ODI. This should have been an easy 271-run chase with only two of their best six scoring more than 12 runs.
In an interview with X, Geoffrey Boycott described the batters as ‘plodders and not batters.’
It was only in November last year, during their disappointing defence of the World Cup, that the now-retired Moeen Ali admitted the inevitable was over and that it was time for the youth to restore the fearlessness that had led England to World Cup glory in 2019.
But without a steady diet of 50-over cricket, with the Metro Bank One Day Cup playing second fiddle to The Hundred and ending with a 20-over final on Monday in late September, this is, by way of mitigation, a youthful team that has been learning mostly on the job.
That lack of experience has been evident so far as the prospect of a painful clash against a ruthless Australian team who refuse to let off the gas pedal and play like the world champions they are.
In 2018, England beat Australia by a whitewash in a five-match ODI series on home soil and the tourists will be looking for an opportunity to repay the favour in the coming week.
With heavy rain in Chester-le-Street on Monday, the players came in firing and there was time for both Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes (both recovering from injuries) to get a hit in, the latter also testing himself against the red ball. It was a timely reminder that next year, when the Champions Trophy under Brendon McCullum takes place, an all-English team will still be expected to compete, but at the moment they are struggling for any sense of identity.
England’s inexperienced team are already facing questions after two thrashings at the hands of the world champions
England, once seen as the standard bearers for how to play ODI cricket, have fallen dramatically behind their rivals, losing 10 of their last 14 one-day internationals. By comparison, Australia have won each of their last 14. Since Morgan stepped down in 2022, England have won three of their eight ODI series and now look set to make it three of nine.
However, Rashid, who last week became only the third England bowler to take 200 ODI wickets, insisted there was no need to panic just yet. He believed everything would be fine with the new crop as they were the ‘best players in the country’.
“If we were winning, this conversation wouldn’t be happening. We might have the same mindset, but that’s because we’re losing,” Rashid said. “The way we played then (between 2015 and 2019) was very positive and aggressive.
“We may be playing the same way now but we’re not getting the runs or the wickets, it’s about finding the right balance in how we approach things. As time goes on, a lot of players will play a lot more ODI cricket, know their game and assess certain things. Then it all comes together,” he added.
The calls for patience from players within the squad will continue, and understandably so, even if England capitulate again on Tuesday. But how long that patience will last for paying fans, with tickets costing at least £60 and selling out for each of the five ODIs, remains to be seen.
“We’ll keep playing the way we want to because that’s what we’re going to do when we finally make the change and Brendon (McCullum) comes in January. There won’t be anything different,” interim manager Marcus Trescothick insisted after Headingley.
Interim coach Marcus Trescothick insisted the team will continue to play the way they want to
But losing on Tuesday and Friday at Lord’s – where the cheapest ticket costs £120 – will be a dead rubber, with England playing for pride and surviving the shame of a whitewash a year before they travel Down Under for the Ashes. That would not go down well.
Despite all the talk about transferring the spirit of Bazball to white-ball cricket and trying to have some fun with it, there are more questions than answers at the moment. England know that behind all the talk, only a win in the north will do.