Since World Cup 2015 in Australia, England’s white ball cricket journey has been only onward and upward under a fearless leader Eoin Morgan.
Irrespective of all the positives, England came across massive batting collapses in a few matches over the last four years. Something the team and management should be cautious of in a mega event like the World Cup.
However, Captain Morgan and England Coach never tried to change the style of their game, and they have been successful with that to make England the top-ranked team.
Let’s have a look at what happens when England comes across a batting collapse once in a while?
The unexpected batting failures cost them the last Champions Trophy. It cost them dead rubber matches in the bilateral series. The latest to the list was the final ODI against West Indies where England managed to bat only 28 overs. The loss forced them to share the series with West Indies.
Morgan said it was England’s adaptability in the bouncy wicket used for the final game. It may be one-off. It may be something which won’t make Morgan worry about in a bilateral series or any ICC tournaments other than in the later stages of a world cup tournament. However, they need to find a way to recover well when the top order collapse.
Roy and Bairstow have the freedom to go out and provide the team with a flying start at the top. The team strategy is always batting around Joe Root where he keeps one end safe, keep rotating the strike which enables the others to play aggressive cricket.
England’s batting collapse primarily stays with the openers falls cheaply followed by Joe Root which puts enormous pressure on Morgan and Buttler. The probability of losing one or two wickets are always higher against a decent bowling lineup especially when Buttler or Morgan came to bat too early in the innings.
Morgan, Buttler, Stokes are all players who can change the game on their own. However, on a given day when they come out to bat within the first 15-20 overs means England are in deep trouble. Such a situation will demand big innings from one of them to take England to a par score. To the contrary, England has shown a tendency of massive batting failure on a couple of occasions in the past.
England starts the World Cup 2019 as favorites at their backyard and let’s hope Morgan & team will find a way to stay away from any such batting collapse on their dream of the first ever world cup title.