News Analysis

England craft promising ODI revival under empowered Morgan

Just a few months after their World Cup flop show, the nucleus of a vibrant England one-day unit has emerged. And, unlike previous episodes of the team trying to embrace 50-over cricket, this one feels as though it has some longevity to it

Andrew McGlashan
Andrew McGlashan
21-Nov-2015
Two hundred and fifty seven days. On March 9, England exited the World Cup in the group stages after a 15-run defeat against Bangladesh in Adelaide. On November 20, Jos Buttler broke his own record with England's fastest ODI century, a brutal 46-ball demolition of Pakistan in Dubai, which set-up a series-clinching victory.
Anyone who watched England's insipid World Cup campaign could scarcely have believed how their year in 50-over cricket would develop. A barnstorming series victory against New Zealand, a hard-fought 3-2 loss against World Champions Australia and finally a convincing series win in Asian conditions which tested various facets of a young side's game.
The Ashes series success will define England's 2015, but it is the resurgence of the one-day side under Eoin Morgan and the shrewd stewardship of Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace that should really be seen as the stand-out achievement of the latest "new era". Unlike previous incarnations of England trying to embrace one-day cricket, this one feels as though it has some longevity about it.
Driven by Andrew Strauss' demand that English cricket casts off its dismissive attitude to one-day cricket, the nucleus of a vibrant 50-over unit has emerged in barely six months. Those associated with the World Cup campaign insist that the freedom now being displayed was how they wanted to play in Australia and New Zealand. They never came close, though, after Morgan inherited Alastair Cook's team and was unable to implement his own ideals in such a short turnaround.
However, given the complete backing by Strauss to retain the captaincy - one of the decisions buried on that tumultuous day at Lord's in May when Kevin Pietersen's career was ended and the mud-slinging resumed - Morgan was handed the authority to make it his team. He has been immense as a captain and a batsman; it is all well and good to tell batsmen to play without inhibition, but that desire had to be followed through from the top and Morgan was true to his word. Since the World Cup he has made 754 runs at 58.00 with a strike-rate of 101.75.
A couple of decisions in the final match against Pakistan in Dubai also highlight his sharp captaincy mind. Firstly, he promoted Buttler to No. 4 and then, with Pakistan throwing the bat, saw Sarfraz Ahmed dispatch Adil Rashid down the ground. It would have been easy to drop a fielder back to long-on, but instead he kept mid-on inside the circle. Off the next ball Sarfraz picked out the man. Neither was a ground-breaking captaincy manoeuvre, but such thinking in the one-day game has not often been natural within an England set-up.
While inconsistency remains, as shown by an overall tally of eight wins and six defeats since the start of the New Zealand series, the highlights of England's last three series have been plentiful. Against New Zealand they crossed 400 for the first time, chased down 350 with six overs to spare and secured the series having been 45 for 5 in the chase at Chester-le-Street.
Facing Australia, they fought back from 2-0 down to take the series to a decider. At Old Trafford, spinners Rashid and Moeen Ali came to the fore and at Headingley, Morgan marshalled a chase of 300. Back in Manchester, the top order folded with the series on the line and when they started against Pakistan by being 14 for 3 in Abu Dhabi, there was a thought whether progress would stall, but the response was emphatic.
For individual players, there have been important career milestones. In the last seven matches, three batsmen have registered maiden ODI centuries: James Taylor, Alex Hales and Jason Roy. Taylor did not play against New Zealand, having emerged from the World Cup carnage with his reputation intact and captained the washout against Ireland in Dublin, but has proved to be an immensely versatile batsman. His century came at No. 3 against Australia and then in Sharjah he nursed a run chase at No. 5 in conditions favouring spin that would have undone many an England side. Do not underestimate his power, either, while his speed between the wickets adds another dimension.
The hundreds for Hales and Roy in the UAE showed the value of letting players settle into a position; both have had their ups and downs - Roy started unconvincingly against New Zealand and Hales stuttered against Australia - but there is a long-term view about this one-day team with Bayliss and the selectors content to soak up the occasional hiccup.
Centuries win one-day matches and in 2015 England have started to crack the code. Before the series against Pakistan, they already had their most three-figure scores for a calendar year (nine), and the 12 they have finished with - crowned by Buttler's effort - is evidence of a top order that is quickly learning its trade at the top level, although it also reinforces how far behind the pack their game was. The overall strike-rate, too, of 93.07 is comfortably their best for a year.
The bowling depth has been tested and the results have been encouraging. James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been moved aside from the one-day team - the former probably for the good, the latter may remerge - while in the UAE the side was shorn of Steven Finn who had become the senior figure in the team during the summer and Ben Stokes was due to be rested even before his collarbone injury. What David Willey and Reece Topley lack in pace they have made up for in nous, both producing eye-catching spells of swing against Pakistan, while the management have already been impressed by Topley's variety. Player rotation means that the notion of a first-choice attack may be a thing of the past and the by-product is that the pool of players who can fill a role has expanded.
All the bowlers have had to take a deep breath at times - especially in the series against New Zealand which was the fastest scoring bilateral series in history - none more so than Rashid, but England's commitment to him embodies their new approach. He has conceded more than six-an-over, yet has not been overawed as 19 wickets in 14 innings would attest to. His 3 for 78 in Dubai was a case in point: two of the wickets came after he had been clobbered for a boundary, responding by finding Mohammad Rizwan's edge with a sharp legbreak and having Sarfraz taken at mid-on.
There will be more rough days with the smooth for this side. The first major staging post for them is the 2017 Champions Trophy in England - by when they will also have played series in Bangladesh and India that will challenge other areas of the team - and that tournament will be a good gauge as to how the side is shaping up for 2019. That World Cup, on home soil, is crucial to English cricket on a multitude of levels in terms of performances on the field and spreading the game off it - the challenge of the latter as important as the former. There is reason to believe, though, that there is a team being formed that can deliver.
For England in one-day cricket, 2015 was on one hand another annus horribilis but on the other a year where an exciting future emerged.

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo