Image Credit- AP
Upon England’s thirtysomething squad’s eventual
elimination from the World Cup, the team’s oldest member acknowledged the
significance of their fifth consecutive and sixth overall loss to Australia.
“Every good thing has an end,” remarked Moeen Ali. “Maybe the
writing was on the wall, and we just didn’t see it as players.”
This miserable championship defence will inevitably
lead to a restructure of England’s ODI lineup. Eight players from their winning
2019 team were on the team that lost by 33 runs in Ahmedabad on Saturday; the
three that weren’t included were the 36-year-old Dawid Malan, the retiring
David Willey, and World Cup-leading average of 10 Liam Livingstone.
In contrast to the past eight years, when England’s
World Cup group-stage loss in 2015 prompted a total overhaul of their
limited-overs lineup, there is a wealth of talent just waiting for the right
moment. The problem is that it might not be easy to do a full refresh because
11 of the 15 players competing in this tournament are one month into two or
three-year contracts.
England’s scheduling might really be to their
advantage for once. They always intended to play the three-match series against
the West Indies next month with a subpar ODI side before turning their
attention to the T20 World Cup in June. After nine months without an ODI, they
will host Australia in late September 2024.
The most important questions, however, are whether
they will allow Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott to defend the Twenty20 title they
won in Australia last year as captain and coach, and if yes, how they will
rotate their team to prevent a repeat of the slow-motion disaster that has
unfolded in India over the past month.
At the conclusion of this World Cup, Moeen, who has a
one-year central contract, intends to speak with the England captain and coach
about his future. Although he is their vice-captain in white-ball cricket, he
has only participated in four World Cup matches, gone wicketless in 24.2 overs,
and only scored 83 runs despite hitting a brilliant 42 against Australia.
“I’m obviously going to speak to Jos and Motty
and see what they want from me, whether they want me around or whatever,”
Moeen said. “I don’t know. If they say, ‘look we’re going to go with
younger players and start again’ then I’m more than happy. I get it, I
understand… everything good comes to an end at some point.”