Tom Reeves looks into England’s poor start at the Cricket World Cup and suggests who could come into the underperforming, unchanged team to improve their fortunes.
England are underperforming on the global stage yet again.
Whether the sport is rugby, football or cricket, England supporters have got used to seeing their country disappoint by now.
The 2015 Cricket World Cup has been no different.
Peter Moores’ men have won just once in four games with that single victory coming against minnows Scotland.
Now to guarantee qualification from Group A, England will have to beat Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
There can be no more excuses and no more poor performances.
What’s more, they will also have to pray the weather remains on their side because a washout could prove costly in their bid to reach the quarter-final.
England fans came into the World Cup quietly confident of a reasonably successful competition, despite some major changes in the build-up to the tournament.
One-day captain Alastair Cook was sacked at the end of 2014 and replaced by Eoin Morgan. Meanwhile, the return of coach Moores ended most of the lingering media speculation about the potential return of batsman Kevin Pietersen to the fray (there is a bit of history between the two and they aren’t exactly best friends).
But a poor start to the competition for England has restarted many of these debates.
There have been some strange decisions by coach Moores and his fellow England selectors at the World Cup.
Top of the list is the decision to opt to bring in Gary Ballance in place of experienced Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara for their World Cup opener against co-hosts Australia.
It is true that Bopara had not been in particularly good form in the build-up to the tournament but he had not been in terrible form either.
So why drop someone who has featured in both the warm-up matches for the first game at World Cup and damage his confidence?
His replacement Ballance has failed to impress in England’s opening four matches as well, although there have been some positives.
James Taylor was left stranded on 98 not out in the opening match defeat to Australia, and both Joe Root alongside Moeen Ali have made centuries against Sri Lanka and Scotland respectively.
Meanwhile, James Anderson (2-30), Chris Woakes (2-25), Steven Finn (3-26) and Moeen (2-47) all impressed with the ball, albeit against Scotland, though, by and large, the bowlers have struggled, and most of the batsman have failed to contribute meaningful scores regularly too.
The need for change
England have used the exact same team for all four of their World Cup matches so far. This would have been understandable if the side were performing well: however, they are not.
What is the point in selecting a 15-man squad before the tournament if only 11 of them are used? What kind of message does this send to the four players not selected? ‘We are not playing well but we are going to stick with the same side and hopefully they might come good for us eventually.’
The positions of Ballance, Woakes and Finn are all under threat. Why not give Alex Hales, Bopara or James Tredwell a chance?
Unfortunately, the reality most probably is Moore and his selectors are being too stubborn in their selection.
They won’t pick Tredwell ahead of Woakes because they want Moeen to be the frontline spinner. They refuse to choose Hales ahead of Ballance, since Ian Bell and Moeen are seen as the best opening partnership and so on.
Ravi Bopara
A batting all-rounder, Bopara would be able to contribute for the side in all areas. He has played 119 ODIs for England and is an experienced campaigner: far more experienced than Ballance, Root, Taylor, Woakes and Finn to name some of his team-mates selected ahead of him at the moment. He is often seen as a ‘nearly man’ for his country and a good squad player, though,his batting average of 30.62 (including 14 fifties) and bowling average of 39.26 (with 38 wickets) shows he probably should be held in higher esteem. None of England’s bowlers have bowled particularly well so far, and on some flat pitches in Australia and New Zealand, most teams need all the bowling options they can get.
Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan is now entering his prime at the age of 26. He is relatively new to the international scene, although has shown he can have an impact with bat and ball when given a chance to play for England in Test and ODI cricket. He took 1-13 in four overs in the first warm-up match against West Indies.
James Tredwell
Tredwell has plenty of experience from his time playing on the County Championship circuit for Kent. The 33-year-old has also proven he can transfer this form into ODIs in the 44 matches he has played for England (with a bowling average of 27.81). Realistically, he can only expect to play in one more World Cup after this and will be desperate to take any opportunity he is given. He took 1-43 from England’s final warm-up game against Pakistan in his nine overs. Tredwell has shown for Kent he is a capable batsman through the three centuries he has scored for the county and is even considered by some to be a bowling all-rounder.
Alex Hales
Hales is an explosive opener and would be able to give England more impetus at the start of an innings. Hales, 26, has been waiting for his chance in international cricket for an awfully long time now and is surely at his peak. He has played in Australia’s Big Bash and the Bangladeshi Premier League to help prove he can perform on the international scene.