A debutant at the start of England’s ODI revolution and still there at its miserable end - though famously not for its crowning moment in between - David Willey last week became the first player to formally declare this World Cup implosion his curtain call.
Timing aside, news of the seamer’s international exit did not come as a surprise, the decision taken after he had been the only member of the 15-man squad left off a central contract list almost twice as large. This weekend, though, after a fifth successive defeat, this time to Australia, put Jos Buttler’s side at last out of their misery, his vice-captain, Moeen Ali recognised an appetite for broader overhaul.
“Everything good comes to an end,” said the 36-year-old, whose own ODI retirement is expected to be imminent. “If I was in charge, I’d play the younger guys [after this tournament]. I’d just start again and I’m sure they’re going to do that. It’s common sense.”
Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott, whose own futures are also uncertain, have so far gone down a different route, sticking with a team made up exclusively of thirty-somethings as if trying to shield the like of Harry Brook, Gus Atkinson and Sam Curran from the rut that has clearly set in. None of that younger trio have featured in the three games since the defeat to South Africa but should surely be involved against the Netherlands on Wednesday, given it is their generation for whom failure to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy would have significant repercussions.
The previous edition of that forgotten tournament back in 2017 was a key staging post in the transformation of Eoin Morgan’s team and without it as a mid-term target it is not difficult to see a scenario in which, for all the present outrage at England’s 50-over neglect, the format fades into the background once more, the 2027 World Cup too distant to be priority.
A(nother) T20 equivalent next summer and a fresh batch of central contracts just dished out complicate the picture, but it will be intriguing to see the extent to which England’s leadership - whoever they may be - go all in on long-term planning at the start of a new 50-over cycle.
A fresh squad is expected to tour the Caribbean later this year, featuring the likes of Will Jacks, Phil Salt, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, who is targeting the trip for his return from the dislocated shoulder suffered during the Ashes in June.
Those names tell of batting ranks well stocked with next cabs, several already with vast international experience in Test cricket, or else on the franchise scene. Sam Hain’s domestic consistency and Jamie Smith’s potential are expected to come into contention, too.
The future of England’s bowling attack is more muddled: Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood remain perennial fitness unknowns, Josh Tongue and John Turner were both injured before they could make experimental white-ball debuts in September, while the likes of Curran, Atkinson, Reece Topley and Brydon Carse ought still to emerge from rubble of this World Cup campaign. Rehan Ahmed is the outstanding spin prospect but remains raw and recent Lions selection, albeit with a red-ball focus, confirmed England are prepared to cast their net wide.
The best young players must play together as often as possible before the next World Cup
With so little domestic 50-over cricket available to the best young players (i.e. none), if that crop are to be moulded into the kind of finely tuned team built by Morgan, history suggests they must play together as often as possible between now and the next World Cup.
How practical that is remains to be seen. Throw in Brook, surely to become the lynchpin of the new era, and the aforementioned batting lineup comes to heavily resemble that of the Test side, susceptible to the same scheduling clashes that have undermined the 50-over set-up in recent years, albeit without a Covid backlog to clear.
Then there is the question of how long the current thirst for wholesale change will sustain. After the Caribbean tour, England will not pick another ODI squad until Australia visit next September. By then, leaving out Joe Root or Jonny Bairstow - both of whom recently rejected talk of 50-over retirement - may be a more dubious call than it feels now, particularly if either have spent the summer scoring bulk Bazball runs. As poor as Buttler’s World Cup has been, he remains England’s best ever white-ball batter, likewise Adil Rashid when it comes to bowling spin; with emerging talents to nurture, casting either aside before their time could well come to look rash.
