The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup has been a disastrous one for many sides, the most surprising of them all is England.
The defending champions have done nothing at all in this year’s World Cup. Out of their five matches, they have lost four and their sole victory came against Bangladesh.
While they are not officially out of the race for the semi-finals, the way they have played so far hints that the defending champions are taking an early exit.
What went wrong for England is a question that everyone is asking right now. Following are some of the major reasons behind England’s disastrous World Cup 2023 campaign.
Poor batting against the spinners
Former Indian batter, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar highlighted this fact when Afghanistan created the biggest upset of the tournament by beating England. In match 13 of this year’s World Cup, Afghanistan defeated England by 69 runs. After the game, veteran batter Sachin Tendulkar highlighted one major flaw in England’s batting that they were unable to read the spinners of Afghanistan. He said on X (formerly Twitter) that batters have to read spinners from the hand, which English batters couldn’t do.
This wasn’t just the case in the England vs Afghanistan match only. If we look at England’s first match against New Zealand, they gave away half of their wickets (5) to the Kiwi Spinners. England was only able to post 282 in that game, which was chased with ease by the Kiwis. Then against Afghanistan, they gave away eight wickets to the spinners and were bundled out for a mere 215 while chasing 284. The vulnerability of their batters against spinners is a major problem that has haunted their World Cup 2023 journey.
Difference between aggressive and reckless cricket
Team England is known for their fearless style of batting. As soon as Brendon McCullum took over as the coach of the Test Side, England was seen batting with a different attitude. Although McCullum has no input in the white-ball cricket and he is not in the coaching panel of the white-ball side of England, it surely feels like that BazBall approach in Test Cricket has influenced the white-ball cricket of England as well.
Despite wickets falling from the other end, instead of partnership building, England tend to attack more and more and end up losing their wickets.
If we look at their scores so far in the tournament, only once England has been able to score 300+ and that was against Bangladesh. Their last three team totals were; 156/10 vs SL, 170/10 vs RSA, and 215/10 vs AFG.
Except for the game against Afghanistan, where they were undone by the quality of spin, English batters have gifted their wickets most of the time rather than showing some sense of responsibility and trying to spend some time on the crease.
Lack of rhythm
Jos Buttler and Co. looked a little disturbed or maybe they just lacked rhythm. The number of mistakes that they have committed is a little too much for their standards. After their defeat against Sri Lanka, captain Jos Buttler himself highlighted the fact that the entire team has been short of their standards. The way they got out, the way they are fielding and not building partnerships is indeed a concerning sign. Former England captain, Nasser Hussain also pointed out that the batting of England lacks rhythm. He further stated that the English batters need to spend more and more time on the crease.
Poor bowling
England’s bowling attack has also been a big thorn in their journey to retain the World Cup. Their bowling attack managed to pick up just one wicket against New Zealand, and later on, they also conceded 399 against South Africa. Apart from Reece Topley, the remaining bowlers looked quite ordinary and kept on leaking runs. Adding more to the miseries of England, Topley got ruled out of the event due to an injury after England’s game against South Africa.
Overall, it has been a disappointing journey for England and now only miracles can save them. The World Cup 2023 journey, realistically, is over for them. They have a lot to think about and a lot to improve. It is kind of a Déjà vu for them, as they looked nowhere in the contest in the 2015 World Cup as well. But after 2015, they came back strong and won the next edition of the World Cup, so maybe, the same revamp or a similar motivation is needed now.
Bazif Jabbar Passionate Cricket writer and Commentator. Sharing the magic of the game through words.