New Zealand are still without some of their regulars, while Pakistan have some big issues to address even though it’s the format they are the most consistent in

Danyal Rasool26-Apr-2023When Pakistan cricket fans urged the side to experiment during the T20I series because it “doesn’t matter”, they meant something along the lines of “it doesn’t matter because New Zealand are missing most of their first-choice players, and Pakistan have all of theirs available; so go out, have fun and take risks – the T20 World Cup is 18 months away, the scoreline is immaterial”.But New Zealand clawed back from a 2-0 deficit to get one hand on the trophy after Mark Chapman’s heroic exploits earlier in the week, and Pakistan are beginning to find out that there’s nothing in their cricket that “doesn’t matter”. The criticism in the inquest that followed – both from the fans and the media – wasn’t really too extreme, as it can be. After all, when a side that played the T20 World Cup final just five months prior follows up a series loss to Afghanistan with a split series against New Zealand, who offloaded most of their best players in India en route Pakistan, it must mean something.But there’s little time for Pakistan to worry about that, or indeed for New Zealand to exult in their feats of the past ten days. For the five games coming up in the 50-over format really do matter, offering some of the last real-match practice ahead of the ODI World Cup in the autumn. New Zealand, again, are without some of the players they will have at their disposal for the World Cup, and so have another opportunity to test their bench strength. But with Kane Williamson a high-profile doubt for that tournament, finding someone who can somewhat adequately fill those huge boots might represent priority number one.Lack of ODI time a worry for PakistanFor Pakistan, simply the opportunity to play a bit more ODI cricket against a quality side is welcome. Since the end of the last World Cup, Babar Azam’s side has played just 23 ODIs; they played 82 in the preceding World Cup cycle. The last time Pakistan took part in fewer ODIs between two World Cups was the 1979-1983 cycle, and even that included 25 games. Some of that has to do with the postponements and cancellations the Covid-19 pandemic forced, but ODI cricket’s gentle decline from relevance appears to have hit Pakistan’s scheduling especially hard. Even the games they have played haven’t often come against the highest class of opposition; they include six against Netherlands and Zimbabwe, a further three against West Indies during the off-season in Multan, and another three against a completely second-string England side.Pakistan would want Mohammad Rizwan to replicate his T20I form in ODIs•AFP/Getty ImagesBut that doesn’t mean this is a weak ODI side; if anything, Pakistan have greater role clarity and offer more consistency in this format than any other. They won a home series against the No. 1 ranked Australia a little over a year ago, boast a top three that could hold its own against any in world cricket, and eye-watering depth in the pace-bowling attack. There’s quality in the legspin department thanks to Shadab Khan – and recently even Usama Mir – while Mohammad Nawaz’s utility to the side, particularly as a lower-order batter, has grown. They were within one win of rising to the top of the ODI rankings just three months ago, but ended up falling short when New Zealand launched a comeback to take that series 2-1.That remains one of just two series Pakistan have lost in the World Cup cycle, but there remain issues to address. Pakistan are still trying to find a way of sorting out a suspect middle order to balance the burden of run-scoring more evenly through the team; in the period between the two World Cups, no team has relied on its top three more than Pakistan. Haris Sohail was brought back in from the cold to help alleviate that problem, while Agha Salman offers potential of providing some of that stability. Pakistan will hope Mohammad Rizwan can begin taking to this format with the same adroitness as he has the other two formats, and want allrounders Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf and Shadab to fill in some of the gaps.New Zealand’s chance to lock World Cup contendersIt might appear New Zealand are in a better space with much less pressure and fewer expectations, but this close to a World Cup, any team would wish to have its full squad available. A stronger New Zealand side, after all, did walk away with the series trophy in Pakistan three months ago, and doubling up on that would bring calm to a side that has been extremely dominant this cycle at home, but crumbled frequently against stronger opposition away.Mark Chapman earned an ODI call-up following his T20I century•PCBThat win in Pakistan is something of an outlier; every other New Zealand series win this cycle has either come in New Zealand, or against Ireland, Scotland and – relatively more notably – West Indies. While home form, which includes two series wins against India, is nothing to be sneezed at, it will bear little relevance to the World Cup in India itself. When New Zealand visited India immediately after that Pakistan triumph, they were swept aside 3-0 relatively comfortably.But New Zealand will be encouraged by how well some of the reserve players held up against Pakistan in the T20I series. This close to a World Cup, the incentive to hit another level and book a spot at that tournament will be high. There was little in Chapman’s recent T20 matches to suggest the quality he displayed in Pakistan, and he was instantly rewarded with an ODI berth. That puts him in immediate contention for the World Cup, and if Chad Bowes or Rachin Ravindra – who have showed flashes of form in the T20Is – can replicate their performances, these ODIs may offer New Zealand a lot more cover for their bench over the coming months.New Zealand may have a lot of players in India at present, but even the ones here will fancy a trip across the border in six months. The T20I series may have been shared and will soon be forgotten, but you won’t catch too many claiming this ODI series doesn’t matter either.

Pakistan didn’t fluke this series win against Sri Lanka. They decided they were going to play like this, told us about it. and went out and did it

Osman Samiuddin28-Jul-2023Admit it. You sniggered a little when Pakistan “unveiled a playing style” this May. A new kit, a new player, a new mega-bucks commercial deal, yes. But unveiling a new playing style?Perhaps you’re older and were downright sceptical. Pakistan, playing in a consistent and identifiable and consistently identifiable way? Tell them you can’t ascribe pattern to chaos or package and sell bottles of rainbow.Some of you may have appreciated the fact that Pakistan were, for once, being proactive and thinking and talking about the brand of cricket they wanted to play.This brand, the PCB explained in the middle of an 850-word press release announcing the appointment of their new coach Grant Bradburn, was . was, in the words of team director Mickey Arthur, “winning while having our own culture, our own brand of cricket and our own style. We will not be satisfied with wins without that culture in the team”.Related

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Soon after, during a press blitz, further detail was provided. This culture would stem from resilience, a national trait often ascribed to Pakistanis and the idea that Pakistan shines when pushed against a wall, that it burns brightest when it is darkest. The Cornered Tigers thesis, in other words, that Pakistan produces its most exhilarating and attacking cricket when they are up against it the most.Except now, in a crucial twist, this new coaching set-up was trying to instill into the players not to wait to be cornered but to be that tiger from the get-go.At the time, it did sound a bit like the hokum you might find in a brochure, or a self-help guide, though there were occasional glimmers of greater intent in white-ball series against the touring New Zealand side in April.But it was in beating Sri Lanka so comprehensively that a fuller expression of this – a humble request here to anoint whatever this is with a punchier, less lofty name – emerged. This was across a much broader canvas, operating with the acceptance that some days will be good, some bad, that one session might contain an entire game within it, where time and all its unfolding and uncontrollable possibilities and realities will test commitment to an intangible philosophy.And in real life, outside the confines of a press release, it was much more thrilling to watch. Pakistan scored at 4.06 runs per over through the series, the second highest by any visiting side in Sri Lanka (India scored at 4.17 across three Tests in 2017).In a crucial twist, the players don’t need to wait to be cornered before turning on their tiger mode•AFP/Getty ImagesWhen they were cornered in that first innings at Galle, at 101 for 5, still 211 runs behind, they were still going at five an over. Saud Shakeel and Agha Salman took the bolder, more aggressive route out putting on 177 at nearly five an over, but they were only maintaining the aggression. By the end of the second day, Pakistan had never scored faster across an innings as long as it was then – 4.91 runs per over across 45 overs – in their first innings of a Test.The target in the final innings was small, but precisely in that range which so traumatises Pakistan. And this was Galle, across days four and five, against a slow left-arm orthodox who had already done them over once on this ground, who has 59 wickets from just nine Tests. Pakistan wobbled, but they kept going hard at the target so that despite being 38 for 3 and 79 for 4, it never felt far away. At 4.05 runs per over, it was Pakistan’s fourth-quickest chase of a target between 130-185.On the third day of the second Test in Colombo, Pakistan scored 385 runs, the third-most they have ever made in a day. Agha became only the third Pakistani to score a hundred runs in a session. In short, it is difficult to remember this much collective intent in the batting. The only time Pakistan have scored faster through a series was against India at home in 2005-06, on legendarily flat tracks in Lahore and Faisalabad.The bowling has never needed much selling, of course. But even by Pakistan’s standards of variety, this was a proper 1980s United Colours of Benetton ad of an attack. Nearly all species of bowler was present: left-arm fast, right-arm fast, slow left-arm spin, right-arm legspin-mystery spin. All kinds of avenues and angles of attack available: tall, short, new-ball vim, old-ball reverse, get beat on the outside edge, get beat on the inside edge, hit stumps, hit pads, get caught in the slips, contain, attack and contain as attack.The fielding and catching will take time to process, though fair warning: there’s not enough time in the world to come to terms with the level Pakistan operated at.

England are playing – and winning and bossing – Tests in a way that is infectious. It is natural for others to want to replicate, not least because in a calendar in which more players are playing more white-ball cricket than ever, it is the pragmatic move

A reality check will point out this is only two Tests and that too against a non-vintage Sri Lanka side, who finished mid-table in the last World Test Championship (WTC). Even that is kind of the point though. Usually, in such contests, Pakistan rise or stoop to the level of their opponents (other than Australia and South Africa away). Only last year, with seven to eight of the same personnel in both XIs, Pakistan were thumped in one Test and had to pull off the second-highest chase in their history to win the other.Except that this was planned, from the moment Arthur arrived in Islamabad in April and with Bradburn and team management, began to spell out what they wanted. And that it did come from a genuine place of crisis.It’s easy to forget Pakistan finished seventh in the last WTC, ahead only of West Indies and Bangladesh. When they began that cycle, such was their draw that a route to the final was not a fantasy. They ended it single-handedly trying to kill Test cricket. The chairman killed the pitches, the captain and coach killed the ambition, in an unholy communion of conservatism.They needed to do something – anything – and so they did. All the messaging about the was reinforced at the pre-series camp for Sri Lanka (where white-ball cricketers and the Emerging team also attended).Two sessions a day were organised, one for skill development, the other for game scenarios. Players were encouraged to develop shots they weren’t used to playing in the skill session. In the scenarios, they played 21s, where batters have to score 21 runs off a certain, pre-decided number of deliveries (always at least at a run-a-ball). But they are dismissed automatically if they play three dot balls in a row. Pakistan’s boundary-hitting in this series hit Sri Lanka like a truck, but the cumulative toll of their running and strike rotation was far more insidious. (And a handy by-product was that bowlers bowled with more patience, not searching for the glory ball but building dot-ball pressure.)Whether they say it publicly or not, there is an imprint of Bazball on this, of course. For all the evangelising, England are playing – and winning and bossing Tests – in a way that is infectious. It is natural for others to want to replicate, not least because in a calendar in which more players are playing more white-ball cricket than ever, it is the pragmatic move.

– A commendable performance from the boys today. This is the approach and attacking mindset that should be followed. Strong performances from our youngsters @ImAbd28, @SalmanAliAgha1 with the bat and our pacers for hitting the right areas. Thumbsup to Noman Ali for getting 7… pic.twitter.com/EYpIJm6X4u

— Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive) July 27, 2023

Cornwall smashed a century off 45 balls for Royals, while TKR found a new face in left-arm wristspinner Waqar Salamkheil

Rvel Zahid04-Sep-2023

Barbados Royals’ marvelous turnaround after heaviest CPL defeat

Early in the third week of the CPL, Knight Riders chased down 179 against Patriots, as all their big names delivered. Then they waltzed their way to a pulverising 133-run win over Royals, who were bundled for just 61 in pursuit of 195. That turned out to be the heaviest defeat by margin of runs in the history of the tournament.Martin Guptill hogged the limelight with an unbeaten 100 from only 58 balls despite having started with a run-a-ball 20. Earlier this year, Guptill had slammed the first century of this year’s PSL, something which he repeated at the CPL too this season.Related

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But in just about 24 hours, Rovman Powell galvanised his team into action, as Royals comfortably chased down 161 against defending champions Jamaica Tallawahs.Tallawahs opener Alex Hales failed to create an impact in his first game of season, while on the other hand, Alick Athanaze’s mature knock of 76 for Royals eclipsed Shamarh Brooks’ 78 for Tallawahs. Athanaze stole the show with his pyrotechnics in a crunch situation, as he continues making big strides in the nascent stage of his career. After scoring the joint-fastest fifty on ODI debut against UAE in June, he gave resounding proof of his batting prowess with a match-winning knock against Tallawahs.But at the post-match presentation, Powell urged those concerned to manage Athanaze well: “I think he has a very good future. It’s important that West Indies look at that, and start managing him. We have seen players play all three formats in such quick time. There is a lot of talent in the Caribbean, but the problem is we don’t harness that talent.”Thereon, Royals’ topsy-turvy campaign continued as they suffered a 90-run defeat at the hands of St Lucia Kings. However, they saved their best batting performance for the last game of the Barbados leg, which came against Patriots. Royals beat the bottom-placed Patriots by hunting down 221 with as many as eight wickets and 11 deliveries to spare.Johnson Charles struck 78 off 52 balls against Barbados Royals•CPL T20 via Getty ImagesIt was ‘Cornball’ all the way: Rahkeem Cornwall ruled the roost with a jaw-dropping century that put his team in the driver’s seat before retiring hurt on 102 seemingly because of tiredness. Given how Royals’ top order had been struggling before the final game of week three, not many would have envisaged that they would gun down the mammoth target rather convincingly.Cornwall entertained the home crowd splendidly with his power-hitting, as one of his 12 sixes included a monstrous 110-meter hit which surpassed Kieron Pollard’s 107-meter six earlier in the tournament. Cornwall then bettered his own record by crashing a 111-meter six over backward square. He got to his hundred off 45 balls, and followed that with a bat-drop celebration.

St Lucia Kings’ juggernaut rolls on with Raza at the helm

Stand-in captain Sikandar Raza hasn’t let Kings’ intensity drop a wee bit after regular captain Faf du Plessis’ departure for a surgery for his long-standing tennis-elbow injury. Under Raza, Kings beat Royals by 90 runs, further solidifying their hold at the top of the table after three wins from their last five games, two of which were washed out by rain.Waqar Salamkheil got 2 for 21 in the two-run win over Jamaica Tallawahs•CPL T20 via Getty Images

Salamkheil helps Trinbago Knight Riders clinch nail-biter

Knight Riders edged past Tallawahs by two runs while defending 142, as Waqar Salamkheil followed up his 4 for 14 against Royals with 2 for 21. Royals needed 12 in the final over of the chase, before Imad Wasim’s boundary brought it down to eight off five balls. But Ali Khan bowled three dots in a row, and though Imad hit a four again, he could manage only a leg bye out of the remaining four required off the last delivery.Earlier, during Knight Riders’ innings, Tallawahs’ debutant Kelvin Pitman picked up 3 for 27, including the wickets of Nicholas Pooran and Pollard. And though Pitman’s efforts went in vain, Tallawahs will be pleased with his performance as the group stage nears its business end.

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots’ woeful campaign continues

Patriots’ fortunes couldn’t change either under Evin Lewis or Sherfane Rutherford, as they suffered a massive defeat against Amazon Warriors. Patriots made a forgettable start to the third week, succumbing for 88 in pursuit of 187 after Dwaine Pretorius dented them early with three wickets.That was followed by a big defeat at the hands of Royals despite raking up 220, which included half-centuries from Rutherford, Will Smeed and Andre Fletcher. That meant six losses in a row after their first two matches were washed out, keeping them at only two points from eight matches. With Rutherford leading against Royals, Patriots were let down by the bowlers and he also rued the fielding lapses after the loss.”Nothing is guaranteed, so we just need to keep a good mindset, stick together, and anything can happen,” he said.

MI New York showed it’s possible to be successful while using USA players, but will MLC mandate their inclusion in future?

Peter Della Penna30-Jul-2023As the first year of Major League Cricket builds to a crescendo on Sunday night in Grand Prairie, Texas, the tournament final will feature an MI New York side whose stars have dominated the stats columns in the event.Nicholas Pooran enters as the leading scorer with 251 runs as well as the most sixes in the tournament with 21, while Tim David is also in the top five in runs scored with 199 at an average of 49.75 and a strike rate of 171.55 and the second most sixes in the tournament with 16. Trent Boult is the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 19, eight more than the nearest bowler. There’s also a spinner in the MI New York squad who is very impressively leading an important category in T20 cricket. But it isn’t Rashid Khan.This name might not have been on the tip of the tongue of any casual fan at the start of the tournament when asked to name one of the event’s best bowlers. But left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige’s league-leading 5.58 economy rate stands out for another very important reason in this fledgling American T20 franchise league.Related

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Dallas metroplex resident Kenjige, 32, is one of just nine US-born players on MLC rosters, and one of only two to actually make anyone’s starting XI along with MI New York team-mate Steven Taylor. He has been a USA national team player since 2017, much-loved and respected within the US community for his unrivalled work ethic, yet one who was very much unheralded on the global stage before this tournament began. But the support that he and other USA players have received from MI New York management is a blueprint for promoting local players in MLC going forward.”I think you have to win and develop at the same time,” MI New York head coach Robin Peterson said during a post-match press conference at the halfway stage of the tournament when discussing his team’s selection policy regarding the visibility of USA players in their squad. “It’s not either or. That’s the job we’re here to do. Players from the Associate nations and the USA national team, they need to become used to and ingrained in the pressure of having to perform. That’s part of their development in this league. Yes, we do have a keen development angle, but at the top of our mind is always trying to win and you can learn a lot from winning.”When other franchise leaders were asked the same question during the tournament, the answer was generally that winning comes first. But MI New York has shown that it is possible to walk and chew at the same time.Heading into the tournament final, a total of ten players with USA caps have made 56 appearances in the starting XI in 18 matches. But MI New York have led the way with 21 of those selections spread across four players. Aside from Kenjige, opener Shayan Jahangir is third on the team’s runs chart behind Pooran and David with 154 at an average of 25.66. MI New York has also picked Taylor and USA captain Monank Patel for more than half the matches played. They also took three other USA players in the draft – Kyle Phillip, Jessy Singh and Saideep Ganesh – and when Phillip was ruled out of the tournament after his bowling action was reported at the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, his place was taken by another US-eligible player in Slade van Staden.Saurabh Netravalkar’s scalps this tournament have included Nicholas Pooran•SportzpicsBut most of the other franchises have fallen short when it comes to giving USA players a platform to shine. San Francisco Unicorns, who failed to make the playoffs, did not start a single capped USA player. Yet it is not just the what but the how this has come about that is of particular note.On one hand, players like Saurabh Netravalkar for Washington Freedom and Cameron Gannon for Seattle Orcas have shown that, given a chance, USA players are more than capable of holding their own. Former USA captain Netravalkar registered the tournament’s best bowling figures of 6 for 9 against Unicorns and ended with a team-best ten wickets. Dual national Gannon, who last represented USA in 2019 but on either side of that appearance has committed his time to Sheffield Shield cricket in Australia, is the joint-leading wicket-taker for the other tournament finalist Orcas with 11 wickets at an average of 14.09.On the flip side, most franchises have exploited MLC’s nebulous definition of “domestic player” to mainly pick non-USA eligible players – many of whom had a negligible impact – to fill their domestic quota. Contrary to the Global T20 Canada and the UAE’s ILT20, a pair of leagues who mandate a minimum number of three and two domestic players respectively in each starting XI – and clearly define them as someone who is eligible for or has been capped for Canada or the UAE – MLC officials determined that a player could meet that standard simply by merely pledging to “hold a ‘qualified visa’, have established their ‘primary and permanent residence’ in the US, and will continue to satisfy the ICC’s guideline regarding ten out of 12 months for three consecutive years”.It opened the door for the farcical situation of Chaitanya Bishnoi, who landed in the USA merely days before the MLC draft for domestic players in March but was taken in the fourth round for $40,000. Though not as egregious an example, former Pakistan international Mukhtar Ahmed was playing domestic cricket in Faisalabad as recently as September 2022 before being taken as a domestic player in March’s MLC draft for the second round price tag of $65,000.Bishnoi went on to make 52 runs in four innings (entering at No. 8 in three of his four innings) and bowled three overs for Unicorns. Mukhtar’s returns were perhaps even more negligible: occupying prime real estate at No. 3 in the batting order every match for Freedom, he scored 78 runs at an average of 13.00 and a strike rate of 105.40 with a best of 20.This raises pertinent questions. A: Why are players who have played internationals for other countries being regarded as locals if they have not qualified yet by ICC rules to play for USA? B: Shouldn’t a player like Mukhtar, who is currently ineligible to play for USA and has played for Pakistan previously, be regarded as overseas and have to compete for overseas slots with the likes of Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf? C: Did any such player genuinely raise the standard of the league, thereby perhaps justifying the leniency in the rules that allows such picks in place of a US-eligible player?There is another wrench in the equation of local players though. There are cases like England’s Liam Plunkett, New Zealand’s Corey Anderson and Sri Lanka’s Shehan Jayasuriya – players who married American citizens and migrated to the USA for family reasons totally unrelated to MLC.Liam Plunkett – he of 2019 World Cup England fame, now at MLC•Getty ImagesPlunkett has made considerable efforts to establish links in the local Pennsylvania sports cricket community, mainly through academy coaching, and the same is true of Anderson in the Dallas area. But Plunkett is not eligible to play for USA and few, if any, promotional media segments organised in the build-up to the tournament have attempted to identify him as anything other than one of England’s heroes from the 2019 World Cup final win. He was even introduced in his opening spell of the tournament to TV audiences around the world by MLC broadcast commentator Pommie Mbangwa as the “50-over World Cup winner from England”.It would not seem unreasonable to establish a middle-ground category for players like Plunkett who are in a type of limbo: England international career done, but now firmly entrenched in the US cricket community despite not being eligible to play for USA. Why not ensure a minimum number of US-eligible players in the XI while also making room for a few “wildcard domestic” players? At least it would go some way towards ending the charade of pretending to portray Plunkett as something he is not, nor has Plunkett ever tried to be, while also curbing the practice of declaring players “domestic” at the 11th hour.It’s also worth noting that the Global T20 Canada’s policy of three Canadian players in the starting XI was not always so. In year one, the GT20’s original rules stated that four Canada players needed to be drafted into each squad, but there was no mandate to play any of them in the starting XI, and many teams chose not to. It was only Saad bin Zafar’s magical Player-of-the-Match performance in the tournament-final win by Vancouver Knights that seemingly opened eyes to the fact that Canada players could and would shine, if only given a chance.Time will tell if MLC adjusts their roster policy for the second year of the league to mandate a minimum number of US-eligible players in the starting XI in the same way that GT20 and ILT20 do. Until that time comes, MI New York have led the way in showing that whether by force or by choice, USA players are capable of holding their own both against and alongside some of the biggest names on the global T20 franchise circuit.

His patchy form means he is no longer Bangladesh’s first-choice left-arm pacer despite his end-over skills. So now he’s looking to add to his repertoire

Mohammad Isam21-Sep-2023Not much cricket was played in Dhaka today, thanks to the on-again, off-again unseasonal rain, but what little was managed provided the stage for Mustafizur Rahman to show some vital rhythm ahead of the World Cup.Someone like Mustafizur would usually be a shoo-in for a spot in Bangladesh’s World Cup fifteen, but patchy form meant that the selectors and team management were looking for signs of this rhythm. His numbers for this season might be deceptively good, but he has looked out of sorts in most spells since last year and, for a while now, Shoriful Islam has edged ahead of him in Bangladesh’s left-arm pace pecking order. Shoriful bowled well enough in the Asia Cup to earn a rest in this series, meaning he is also confirmed pick for the World Cup. Mustafizur has this one series to state his strongest case for his own spot.Today, he took three wickets, conceding just 3.85 per over in his seven overs. That sort of economy is not common for him, and even more uncommonly, he got two of his three wickets in the first powerplay. He has only done this four times – in 90 ODI innings – in his career before today, the last instance coming 20 months ago, in January 2021.With his old-ball tricks – he is known for his use of his variations like cutters and slower-balls in the death overs – being deciphered more and more by batters since roughly the start of 2022, he has been working on sharpening his skills with the new ball. Bangladesh’s assistant coach Nic Pothas, speaking after today’s abandoned ODI, said as much.”Fizz [Mustafizur] has been working hard for the last month or so, to try to find some rhythm with the new ball,” Pothas said. “He has worked hard with [fast-bowling coach] Allan Donald. You can see the fruits, and it is coming along at the right time before the World Cup. We are very happy for him. We know his death-bowling credentials. You can wake him up at 3 o’clock in the morning to bowl death overs, and he will do them with the best in the world.”Pothas said that the skills needed to bowl with the new ball and being a death-overs specialist are very different things. Pothas believes Mustafizur is experienced enough to excel in both areas. “Those two roles are very specific. They almost live in two different boxes. It is no different to a batsman playing a particular type of innings and then having to do range hitting at the end.”[But] these guys are professionals. They have to be able to do anything. He prioritises very well. He is very experienced.”Mustafizur also earned praise from New Zealand captain Lockie Ferguson. “Certainly today was challenging for the boys and I thought the way Youngie [Will Young] and [Henry] Nicholls batted through that middle part really cemented a potential platform for us. Obviously it was difficult coming on and off with rain as well, it wasn’t easy.”Bangladesh bowled really well. Clearly there was some spin, and Mustafiz bowled really nicely as well. So, good learnings to take into the next game, but it’s just unfortunate that it rained.”

ODIs aren’t a priority for England at the moment, and that’s been reflected in their poor show at the World Cup so far

Matt Roller23-Oct-20231:40

What’s gone wrong for England?

The widespread view that ODIs are dying a slow and painful death has not been rebuffed in the first two-and-a-half weeks of the World Cup in India. Halfway through the group stage, the tournament has been characterised by two things: the number of close finishes (hardly any) and empty seats (plenty).It was a theme that emerged as Joe Root spoke to the English press in Bengaluru on Monday. Root stressed that he was not looking to make excuses for England’s disastrous start to their title defence, which has seen them lose three of their first four matches, but the lingering sense that 50-over cricket no longer takes precedence was reinforced.Echoing his coach, Matthew Mott, Root suggested that England’s build-up had been “rushed” after a six-month gap between March and September in which none of their World Cup squad played a single List A game, let alone an ODI. “It would have been nice to have a proper run-in,” he said.Related

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World Cup trends: Where have all the thrillers gone?

England balancing act leaves them staring into abyss

In the four years between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, England played 88 ODIs and used 34 players, 12 of whom played more than 50% of those games. From 2019-23, they played just 42 ODIs and used 44 players, of whom only eight featured in at least half. The player who won the most caps in this cycle, Jason Roy, is not at the World Cup.Playing a full-strength side more often “definitely would have benefitted” England, Root said. “It would have been nice to [have] a six-month period where you slowly work things through as a group. But that’s just not how it is at the minute, and that’s not how we get to play our cricket as an England player, so you’ve just got to be adaptable.”Since their triumph in the 2019 World Cup, England’s schedule has been dominated by Test cricket: they have played 56 Tests in that period, with Australia and India joint-second on 39. With several tours staged concurrently and their white-ball teams focused on the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups, multi-format players have often been rested for ODIs.The result is that England’s all-format players are simultaneously overcooked after a busy winter of touring, a full IPL season and an exhausting Ashes campaign; and undercooked, in terms of relevant practice in the format they are actually playing at this World Cup.Jos Buttler couldn’t do much to change the script against South Africa•ICC via Getty ImagesRoot is a prime example: he played only 19 ODIs between the 2019 final and the opening game of the 2023 tournament. “We’re in a unique situation,” he said. “We play a huge amount of Test cricket compared to a lot of the other nations, so there’s always going to be overlapping schedules if we continue to play the amount that we do.”England’s next generation has also hardly played 50-over cricket, since the counties’ One Day Cup clashes with the Hundred, which launched in 2021. Gus Atkinson, the young Surrey fast bowler who featured in their 229-run thrashing to South Africa on Saturday, has played more one-day cricket for his country (four caps) than his county (two).Mott admitted that England were “guessing a little bit” in selection meetings due to their inability to compare players’ recent 50-over performances. “When you’re not playing the format, it’s hard to know who the best players are,” Root said. “That being said, I don’t think we’ve got the wrong squad of players here; I just don’t think we’ve performed.”Root has been an advocate of the Hundred, and said that England’s start to the World Cup “doesn’t make me change my mind” about it. “It makes me question whether we should be playing more 50-over cricket [at domestic level] instead of T20 – instead of the Blast, maybe,” he said.But the reality is that England are unlikely to prioritise 50-over cricket again anytime soon. And why would they, given the shifts in the sport’s landscape? They will pick a fresh squad to play three ODIs against West Indies in December, but will then not play another series in the format until mid-September, when they host Australia.

“It shouldn’t be down to, ‘is it bringing the most money for the sport?’ It should be down to what people want to watch, and what’s going to engage the next generation of players”Joe Root

“There’s talk of whether this format is relevant anymore anyway, in international cricket,” Root said. “Whether that gets changed, I don’t know. Who knows how things will move in the future? But whether it’s domestically or internationally, I don’t think we play enough of it if we’re going to continue to look to compete in World Cups.”Asked whether he would like the format to survive, Root – who was England’s top-scorer at the 2019 World Cup – did not provide a ringing endorsement. “I think it’s got a huge amount of history and it brings a lot to cricket,” he said. “It will always hold a very special part of my heart for what it’s given me throughout my career.”[But] I think that’s a question that should be posed to the next generation of players, and to everyone watching the game, really. It shouldn’t be down to, ‘is it bringing the most money for the sport?’ It should be down to what people want to watch, and what’s going to engage the next generation of players.”Their answer may become apparent next month, when England select a squad to tour the Caribbean for three ODIs and five T20Is: will players who have been excluded from the list of central contracts that will be published this week turn down franchise deals in order to play in a bilateral tour?While many of the players involved in this tournament still see it as the centrepiece of the international game, that consensus is weakening. Last year, a survey by the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) found that just 54% of men’s players consider the World Cup the “pinnacle ICC event”, down from 86% in 2019.Joe Root has been dismissed six times in the powerplay in nine innings since the start of 2022•Associated PressAnd England’s squad has been surprised by how poor the crowds have been for their matches so far – in particular against New Zealand on the opening night in Ahmedabad.”I know [the stadium holds] 130,000 people but the first game, opening World Cup match, [teams from the] previous final, I expected more people to be there,” Root said. “But when it’s 50 degrees [sic] and you’re sat in the sun all day, and a lot of the time it’s working hours, it’s understandable.”If IPL games, which last up to four hours, can feel too long, the eight-hour ODI matchday is increasingly out of kilter with fans’ demands; the ICC’s slogan for this tournament, “It takes one day”, seems almost apologetic.Root emphasised his belief that England’s squad remain “bloody good players” who can pull off five consecutive wins to reach the semi-finals, starting against Sri Lanka on Thursday. He also played down the idea that, with their legacy as world champions in both white-ball formats secure, England have lacked the hunger of other teams.They are clearly not as bad a side as their performances at this World Cup have suggested, but the trend is clear: England were brilliant at one-day cricket during the four years when it became their No. 1 priority, and have declined in the four years since. Considering the global context, it may never be their priority again.