England’s Fall From Grace In ODIs: Another Disaster in The Making at Champions Trophy 2025?

England have lost their last four bilateral ODI series and head into the Champions Trophy 2025 with countless questions. 

For decades, England were an average white-ball team and it took a monumental effort from Eoin Morgan and Andrew Strauss to change that. Under captain Morgan’s leadership, England executed a brand of cricket that was exciting, revolutionary, and was yielding great results. Their long wait for the ODI World Cup finally ended when they lifted the coveted trophy at Lord’s in 2019. 

However, things have only gone downhill since and England are once again a mediocre team in the fifty-over format. The humiliating 2023 Cricket World Cup campaign in India should have been a big wake-up call for Jos Buttler’s side. Appointing Brendon McCullum as the head coach has not worked either as they have only regressed further. 

England have lost all four bilateral series since the World Cup. Since the start of 2022, they have a win-loss ratio of just 0.730. Compare that to their ratio of 2.090 during the 2015-19 period, the picture looks pretty bleak. 

What we saw in their recent whitewash to India was a shadow of the team England once were under Morgan’s reign. So what has caused this fall from grace? 

Ever since the world was hit by COVID-19 pandemic, one-day cricket has taken a backseat in this sport. From 2015 to 2019, England played a total of 110 ODIs – an average of 22 matches per year. In the last three years, they have played 47 ODIs. Add to that, England have hardly played with their set of first-choice players due to the Test side hogging the top stars. Joe Root, for instance, has featured in only 22 out of those 47 games. The lack of time with their primary players has certainly affected the development of their ODI side.

Fine Line Between Aggression And Foolishness 

Following the Cuttack ODI, where Rohit Sharma obliterated the English bowling attack, Buttler said the beating only vindicated the approach they want to keep playing with. But there’s a thin line between attacking cricket and foolishness. 

England do have players with high potential but they just haven’t been consistent enough. 

Since January 2023, only three England batters average over 40, with Ben Duckett being the only one from their current set-up. In comparison, their golden period in 2015-19 saw all of their top six batters average more than 42. That side had an individual century every 1.86 matches while the number reads 2.61 in the last three years. 

Getting good starts and throwing wickets away has been a recurring theme for this England side. Phil Salt, in particular, has played 30 balls in only two of his last 19 innings. England’s collective failure to play long innings has been a major issue and if they don’t rectify it, the Champions Trophy could be another humiliation.

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England’s Bowling Woes 

It’s not just batting that has been a headache for the former world champions. Jofra Archer has returned to full fitness only recently while Mark Wood hasn’t played enough ODIs in recent years due to the workload and fitness. Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson do not have much experience. 

Reece Topley’s battles with injuries and form have meant that England’s pace attack has become extremely one-dimensional. In the spin department, they have to rely on part-timers alongside Adil Rashid. Their unwillingness to bring in the left-arm orthodox spinner Liam Dawson is puzzling to say the least. 

As a result of all this mess, England have only two reliable wicket-takers in Rashid and Archer heading into the Champions Trophy. 

Questions have been raised over this England team’s commitment to playing the game. Perhaps the best response Buttler and his men can give would be through their performance on the field.

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