New Delhi: Brendon McCullum has never been one to shy away from challenges. With a bold philosophy of leaning into fears and testing your abilities outside of your comfort zone, the new white-ball coach of England finds his team facing the tough challenge he always wanted ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy.
But the fact that England, winners of two world titles in the six years, are not being counted among the favourites, clearly indicates that the task is much bigger and tougher than he expected.
England’s dismal ODI form heading into the Champions Trophy
England head into the Champions Trophy on the back of a dismal ODI record of 12 losses in the last 13 ODIs, four successive series defeats in the 50-over format including a miserable outing in India where the 2019 world champions suffered seven defeats in eight white-ball matches.
England were left with more questions than answers after the India tour which was supposed to mark the start of their white-ball rebirth under Brendon McCullum. The bid to get the Three Lions back to the top of the white-ball game continues in the Champions Trophy but they have to hit the ground running and search for solutions as quickly as possible before things spiral out of control.
More than the losses and the 3-0 score-line in the ODI series India, England will be most worried about the manner in which they lost all the matches. In all three matches, England were out of the game too quickly and too easily.
Can McCullum turn England’s fortune around?
Ahead of the tour, McCullum said that he had picked a “batting line-up as powerful as any in the world”, “guys who bowl absolute rockets” selected those who play a “watchable brand of cricket”.
But cricket is far from a simple game. It involves strategies, skills, as well as significant factors like pitch and weather conditions besides the mental aspect of the game. Being single-minded is good in a way but against different opponents, in different conditions and different formats, adaptability and acceptance are the two most crucial factors for a team to succeed and England’s stubbornness to change their approach might hurt them in the marquee event.
Against India, England looked like a side that is far from close to establishing each player’s role.
England have to fix a lot of issues including top-order struggles, the form of big guns, and lack of big scores (both individually and collectively), a lack of big partnerships, losing wickets in clusters, inability to pick up wickets in the middle overs.
But more than that England need a course correction to reclaim the white-ball identity they gained under Eoin Morgan.
England’s new white-ball coach, Brendon McCullum, faces a significant challenge at the ICC Champions Trophy. Following a disastrous run of 12 losses in 13 ODIs, including a 3-0 series defeat against India, England find themselves in a precarious position. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
