Gautam Ganguly
gautamganguly2012@gmail.com
Notwithstanding the reputation-saving victory against Pakistan in the last encounter at the group stage, the reigning champion England’s disastrous performance in the 2023 ICC World Cup has been shocking to its millions of supporters across the world. Contrary to Team England’s superlative performance in test matches, ODIs, and T-20s in the last six years or so, the England team’s abysmal and nose-diving performance in the World Cup bonanza is inexplicable and disgraceful. Much was expected of this team comprising stalwarts like Joe Root, Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Woakes, Moeen Ali, and others.
A casual glance at England’s dominance familiarises us with the fact that in the 2022 T-20 World Cup, played in Australia, they clinically defeated teams like New Zealand and Sri Lanka, besides other minnows, in the group stage to meet India in the semifinal. The much-vaunted Indian batting line-up was toyed effortlessly by English bowlers, restricting them to a paltry 168 runs! England then thrashed India to a humiliating defeat by ten wickets. Thereafter, a strong Pakistan was defeated hands-down in the final to lift the T-20 World Cup as a sequel to their World Cup victory in 2019.
England’s radical transformation in the limited-over version of the game is credited to Eoin Morgan, the captain of the 2019 World Cup-winning team. The experts opine that Morgan emphasised total attack by the batters, departing from an earlier defensive approach. The ‘Bazball’ approach was the new ‘Mantra’ for Team England that encouraged hurricane and whirlwind batting from the beginning of the game. To quote the ICC, Bazball signifies’commitment to risk-taking and quick scoring’. This transformation in approach and batting style had yielded positive results for England.
In England’s tour of Australia in 2017–18, under captain Morgan, England defeated Australia overwhelmingly in the ODI series. An aggressive Team England had piled up more than three hundred runs on three occasions in five matches in that ODI series. England batsmen had stroked with disdain the Aussie bowlers in their own backyard, reminiscent of the famed West Indian belligerence of the 1970s. In Sydney, Jos Buttler scored a century off 83 balls and then crushed Australia hollow. England won the series, winning four out of five matches. A new, emerging, flamboyant England was witnessed at its superlative best. Slowly, the ‘Bazball’ approach got injected into test matches, which were too hitherto unknown and unseen in conservative England’s batting style.
England’s winning records continued in South Africa in 2020 in the T-20 series before the tour was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. England had won three out of five matches. They won against the West Indies in 2022 in their den easily and comfortably in all three formats of the game.
The last Ashes series in 2023 has been extremely pulsating and competitive. High-voltage cricket was sparked by both teams, producing nail-biting finishes in most of the five test matches. The high standard of the series was set in motion in the first test match itself. England, having taken the first inning lead, had set a target of 282 runs for Australia. It was a ding-dong battle, with the pendulum of success changing alternately between the two teams.
The Aussies won a heart-stopping victory. The first test set the trend for the remaining four test matches, which were all exciting and gloriously uncertain. Both teams won two tests each, and experts consider it to be the best Ashes series in the last decade.
With such high performance and unbeaten records, Team England had reached India to participate in the World Cup in 2023 as one of the favourites. The first encounter was against the last-time runners-up, New Zealand. When England piles up 282 runs, things will look bright for them. However, New Zealand overtook 282, 282 losing only one wicket in a sheer display of magnificent batting. Devon Conway and Ravindra each scored a century and annihilated famous England bowlers mercilessly.
England, thereafter, lost humiliatingly against none-too-impressive Sri Lanka. South Africa and India won without much resistance offered by England. All these losses had, understandably, demoralised England supporters, besides showcasing England’s poor bowling attack, devoid of penetration and incisiveness. No English bowler looked capable of taking wickets. Then, when England was decimated by a highly talented Afghanistan team, their incapability, ineffectiveness, and lack of fighting instinct as a team stood exposed. It was, as if, the last nail in the English cricket coffin.
The ICC 2023 World Cup is a testament to the magnificent rise of the minnows in Afghanistan. They caused upsets for many highly rated teams. Considering the fact that England has been the nursery of cricket, the country that has given this magnificent game to the world, the dismal performance by Team England in this World Cup has tarnished the image of England cricket as a whole.