When the dust settles…
England will look back at the end of a glorious white-ball era for some of their all-time greats. Batons are to be passed on and rebuilding and rethinking will be the focal points of what lies ahead. There is likely to be wholesale changes to the outlook of the team, but maybe along with that there would also be focus on different skillsets. Would they be forced to rethink their attacking approach? Probably not, because it’s hard to put a finger on just one thing that went wrong for them in the tournament. As Ben Stokes mouthed the “we’ve been crap” words during one of the assessments, it rang true to everyone. And England had done well to accept and not hide behind excuses, and similarly the post-mortem is bound to be as hard, but necessary.
A match they’d gladly re-watch the highlights of
In a difficult choice to make given how the campaign shaped up, England would probable consider their last league game against Pakistan as a game that should have been replicated long back. There, their batters fired up top and had the bowlers chipping in dutifully and they scrapped hard even as all was lost to salvage some lost pride, and also ensure that they didn’t get knocked out of the Champions Trophy.
A match they would have loved to replay immediately
The game against Afghanistan, their third in the league stage, was when things started to go pear-shaped. Failing to overhaul a total of 284 set the cat amongst the pigeons for this was also their second loss in three games. Team combinations underwent a drastic overhaul and they made more mistakes against South Africa (a game where they’d probably love to change the toss decision) to sink further. If this game had gone their way, the campaign could have gotten off to a steadier start despite the chinks in the armour.
A performance to remember
Dawid Malan’s 140 against Bangladesh alongside Ben Stokes’ 108 against Netherlands stand out as their best individual batting performances of the tournament while Reece Topley’s four-wicket haul against Bangladesh, also vied for attention.
Hits and Misses
Amongst a clutch of missed opportunities, the biggest misses were Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler. Both were abysmal overall, and while Bairstow had at least two fifties to show against his name, the skipper failed to get even one half-century right through the tournament.
The other, apart from Topley in his brief stay, to have done a reasonable job would be David Willey who filled in adequately while Adil Rashid remained consistent as ever with the ball, picking up 15 wickets overall.
Think I’ve played my last World Cup game…
In an ageing team that is looking to overhaul, this could hold good for a string of players. While David Willey has announced his retirement already, question marks will hover over the likes of Bairstow, Malan, Joe Root, Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes amongst others. And it wouldn’t be a surprise if they all go the same way.
