England’s Turnaround in the ODI Format is Around the Corner - Michael Atherton

England's disappointing performance in the 2023 World Cup 

Defending champion England had a disappointing World Cup campaign, finishing at number 7 in the points table. Despite high expectations, they were only able to secure victory in 3 out of 9 matches, resulting in a disappointing win rate of only 33%. This performance is widely regarded as the worst ever by a defending champion in the history of the World Cup. The last time a defending champion had such a below-par performance was seen in 1999, when Sri Lanka faced a similar fate. The unexpected early exit of the favourite England from the World Cup has sparked intense debates among England fans and those who had high hopes of seeing England qualify for the semi-finals.

But at the same time, stakeholders involved in England cricket, including players, selectors, administrators, and former players-turned-pundits, have not only acknowledged the problem but also demonstrated a clear understanding of its implications. One of the most effective methods for resolving a problem is to openly acknowledge and recognize the existence of the problem. What is particularly encouraging is the absence of any signs of alarm or panic among these stakeholders. While it is anticipated that there will be ongoing adjustments and modifications, the current indication suggests that these changes will not be drastic but rather methodical.

Ex-England captain Michael Atherton, who is on the commentary panel of the World Cup 2023 did not sound alarmed. SportsBoom caught up with him to know what would he prescribe for the England team. Speaking in the side-line of the ICC event Cricket Matters Michael Atherton believes that England's turnaround in the ODI format is imminent, despite their current struggles. He attributes England’s recent struggle to over-prioritisation and revitalizing the test team, which resulted in the one-day team being slightly sacrificed. Atherton acknowledges the cyclical nature of cricket and emphasizes the importance of not making excuses.

Atherton said that over the last four years, England has played fifty-six test matches and that may be double the number of some of the teams, South Africa in particular. England doesn't have an off-season. We're playing the Northern Hemisphere summer. The team is on the go all year round.

Speaking on how it happened previously, Atherton said What's happened is that towards the end of the Joe Root’s captaincy, when Chris Silverwood was coach, England had won one test in 17. When the new management team came in, the focus was very much on trying to regenerate and revitalise England's test team and then probably the one-day team under Jos Buttler was slightly sacrificed because of that.

And it's just a pendulum swing. Prior to that, in the run-up to the 2019 World Cup, Eoin Morgan was given preferential treatment. All his best players, the test team suffered a little bit. So that's the challenge of cricket, which is a unique game in three different formats, trying to be the best over three different formats is very, very difficult indeed. And also, these things do go in cycles a little bit, no team has a divine right to win all the time.

During the World Cup, the whole batting unit went through a collective slump albeit with a few individual performances scattered throughout the tournament. This is the first World Cup where England's Top Order (position 1 - 7) has an average of less than 12 runs per wicket compared to the Top Order of other participating nations in the group stage.

England have had a very good eight-year period in one-day cricket between 2015 and 2023. They dominated the whiteball format winning the T20 World Cup a year ago. They are the first team to win the 50 over and 20 over world cup in succession.

Atherton explained, that the seeds of failure are always slightly sown in your periods of success because what happens inevitably is that your team gets a little bit older, maybe a little bit of complacency creeps in, and the other teams are waiting for you. These things always go in cycles, I have no doubt that England will be strong again, 50 over cricket, there is a lot of talent in our domestic game, but just right now, in 50 over terms, they're hurting a little bit.

I have no doubt at all that England are going to come back. They've looked inward and they've said, we were short, we didn't play well enough, we've got the talent. A lot of the teams that didn't qualify have sought to plant their frailties, their own weaknesses on something that is outside their control. The moment a team gives excuses, then you don't take them seriously.