3 reasons why England was knocked out of the league stage in ODI World Cup 2023

The defending champions England are having the worst World Cup campaign in their history. No one would have thought at the start of the tournament that by the business end England would be languishing at the bottom of the table with just one victory from seven matches. They are staring at the possibility of not qualifying for the Champions Trophy in 2025. We might be witnessing the end of an era that was marked by some great performances and two World titles.

Let’s take a look at 3 reasons why this has been a forgettable ODI World Cup campaign for England:

1. Stubborn approach

England’s white-ball success was a result of a tectonic shift in the approach with which the English used to play. When Eoin Morgan took responsibility after the 2015 World Cup debacle, he tried to go all guns blazing and completely transformed the DNA of English white-ball cricket. A fearless attitude was instilled in the team which gave them exceptional results but now it seems that this approach has backfired because there is a lack of flexibility in implementing this philosophy.

One thing that must be considered is that the majority of the white-ball success came in conditions outside of the subcontinent and England’s fearless philosophy was never truly tested in subcontinent conditions. A champion team must know how to adapt to different conditions and alien circumstances. There can’t be a straight jacket formula to play in every condition. This inability to adapt to Indian conditions cost England heavily in this World Cup.

2. Premature Panic

This World Cup campaign was marked by some panic decisions that were taken by the management. The wholesale change in team composition against South Africa is one of the few instances that reflects a sense of panic that seeped in after initial losses. England’s success in limited overs format was based on the freedom given to the batters and that freedom was a by-product of having multiple all-rounders in the team which gave them depth in batting and various options with the ball as well. This composition was tampered against South Africa which caused instability in the team.

3. Poor Captaincy

Jos Buttler has been abysmal as captain in this tournament which is one of the prime reasons behind this failure. Again, going back to the match against South Africa, Buttler chose to field first after winning the toss which proved to be a disastrous decision. Bowling in the Mumbai heat tested the English bowlers to the extreme. There were a few other questionable decisions that raised eyebrows. 

Jos Buttler found glory in the very first world tournament that he led England in as the captain but this World Cup campaign might disturb some bricks. It would be interesting to see whether Buttler will find support as the leader of this group or not. 

Also read: Three biggest changes Virat Kohli brought in Indian team during his captaincy tenure