CategoryODIs & T20

What next for England’s ODI side?

All eyes are obviously on the World T20 at the moment. But if England lose to Sri Lanka on Saturday, Matthew Mott and his team’s attention will immediately turn to 50-over cricket again. With that in mind, Rob Stephenson discusses how things are shaping up ahead of our World Cup defence in India next year. The side has, after all, lost both its inspirational skipper and the man-of-the-match in that memorable Lord’s final against New Zealand in 2019… Bizarrely, even for the...

The Thrill Of The Chase

This year’s abandoned IPL involved a familiar procession at the toss. Meet in the middle, make your call, win the toss, bowl first (unless your name is Rohit Sharma in Chennai). It’s a well-rehearsed act in T20 cricket, almost automatic at this point. So established is the urge to chase that it takes little imagination to guess what the winning captain will politely opt for. With this familiarity, one would expect a matching level of competence. Surely, teams are so used to chasing scores...

The Template For Watching England’s ODI Team Bat

Yesterday’s decisive ODI might have ended in defeat, but at least it was an entertaining contest. A 2-3 defeat in India isn’t a bad result considering that Root, Morgan and Archer were missing. However, it’s a bit alarming that we squandered so many excellent starts. What’s going on? Here’s Abhijato with a tongue in cheek perspective … The England white-ball team might have come away empty-handed from both the series they played in India, but their approach...

The Underrated Utility Of Joe Root

England’s loss in the first ODI was the latest by-product of England’s approach to playing this format of the game. All-out attack needs to be persisted with, Morgan reasoned, even in the face of reason. This approach almost took them out of World Cup contention in the group stage. But they ended up winning the tournament playing with the same approach anyway. Morgan’s men must be on to something. But there is one qualm to be had with him, which he cannot truly do anything about at the moment...

Pure distain and a casual vacancy: how India punctured England’s wheels

Here’s Abhijato with his take on yesterday’s T20 from an Indian perspective. As the perspective of most England fans would’ve been “there was a T20 on yesterday? Sorry I was watching the footie”, I think we can forgive him for celebrating the arrival of more fresh Indian talent. They just keep producing them … “Casual vacancy means a vacancy occurring otherwise than by efflux of time.” – Someone long before J.K. Rowling wrote a semi-serious novel...

Wheels seal the deal for rejuvenated England

It’s not often that a T20 chase is treated as an afterthought. But the batting performance of the Englishmen was a foregone conclusion long before they even came out to bat at the Motera yesterday. The Indians have seldom been guilty of not being able to stabilise an innings while looking to be intentful. The skipper has often rued his side’s conservatism in Test cricket, and this sentiment seemed to carry itself over to the press conferences in the build-up to the T20 series against England...

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