Honestly mate, head scratcher. These were world beaters just a few months ago.
I pin it in management. Someone’s overly thought out scheme has spectacularly backfired.
Whoever that is needs to carry the can.
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Sri Lanka says hold my beer
Honestly, play England B against India, Oz, Pakistan. Give them invaluable experience out in the middle
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Couldn’t be worse
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Exactly. Plus no pressure to win. Do your best with no fear.
Think The Ashes has taken a lot of our certain players. Also why Oz are underperforming.
What scheme? 
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They aren’t. Losing to SA and India in India isn’t underperforming
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I had them as potential contenders before the world cup started. 2 people can be out of form but for England it seems as if the whole squad is out of form
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Yes, how can that be? Some psychological thing? Complacency?
It’s really hard to understand.
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Not respecting this format enough.
This isn’t T20. I suspect Pakistan is guilty of the same thing. Too many bowlers who can bowl 4 overs well and not enough who can do for 10
With England , it is difficult though. On paper , they’ve got the players to be in the semis.
Ones which have experience in Indian conditions as well.
Heard earlier on TalkShite that the team is maybe a bit old. The England XI today are all over 30 which is a first for any team in a 1 Day match.
Maybe it is a case of some players hanging around like a bad smell when they should have been moved on and some fresh blood brought in
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Makes sense. You can get away with 30+ guys in a T20 match. 50 overs takes more out of the guys. 3 or 4 30+ guys are fine. Not the majority of the playing X1
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But then the average age of the England squad isn’t much different to the average age of the other teams.
And that’s the order
There are a number of problems.
Bairstow hasn’t returned to his best after breaking his leg. Stokes is not the same player either, though obviously handy with the bat. Root and Buttler aren’t in good form.
Then comes the rest. Ali and Livingstone are batting way too high up. That’s one area England have real control over and scope to change. It’s weird to me to have Brook on the bench, the likes of Jacks and Duckett at home, and these two batting in the top 7. That’s poor selection IMO.
Bowling wise we just don’t seem to be good enough in these conditions. Woakes and Wood have been very easy to get away. Topley (before injury) and Rashid have bowled well.
In the end, the team looked better on paper than it does on the pitch. Not too dissimilar to Liverpool last year. Time for a clear out after this WC.
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Listening to Sky Sports, Atherton said England ODI management wanted the team to come in a little underbaked so they would play their way into the tournament. They were wary of burning players out by overtraining (?).
But that looks like the wrong thing to do. I’ve never seen Woakes bowl so poorly for such a stretch. Wood is injury prone so he has to be handled carefully but maybe the strategy to use him has been wrong? He got hit around a lot. Rash takes wickets but he gives away a lot of runs. Livingstone just needs more experience. Root, Stokes, Bairstow, Buttler are a combination of underprepared/tired/old.
You don’t go to a World Cup a little under-baked. You prevent a burn-out by rotating some players.
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Half-baked
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I thought Flintoff had retired
There are probably lots of reasons. Even Australia came into the tournament looking tired and in all sorts with form (we still look incredibly brittle if we lose 2 quick wickets).
But here’s something else to ponder about the top 4:
NZ short format tour of India - Jan/Feb 2023
SA short format tour of India -Oct 2022
AUS tour of India (all formats) - Feb22+March23+Sept23
England tour of India - crickets
I’m pretty confident The England organisers are very selective in their touring to maximise ICC points in a ICC championship iteration, and I think most teams would prefer to avoid playing India in India , but it seems they threw their chances under a bus with their lack of touring in these conditions.
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