England have selected a group with mixed experience for their first 50-over assignment since Matthew Mott’s resignation, starting the process of transition for their next four-year cycle.
The double World Cup disasters over the last 12 months, as well as the natural progression of much of their 2019 core means new faces are filtering through for the ODIs against Australia. Jacob Bethell has been given a debut in the first match of the series, while Jamie Smith has been incorporated into the middle order. Ben Duckett has also been promoted to open alongside Phil Salt while Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Saqib Mahmood and John Turner make up the bulk of the pace battery.
These are the players earmarked for the medium-term future at least, with the Champions Trophy around the corner in February. Of those who played the most over the last couple of years in the format, Dawid Malan and Moeen Ali are now retired from international cricket, with Jonny Bairstow dropped. There is still little clarity on the roles Ben Stokes and Joe Root will play for England in the format going forward, with Brendon McCullum keen to have his red-ball captain available for major white-ball events.
But, as for the here and now, a fresh crop of players have been given an opportunity to stake their claim, along with a new captain in Jos Buttler’s absence. While Harry Brook has taken the reins temporarily for this series, it’s with an eye to a future role as Buttler’s successor.
This group of players, however, have graduated to international 50-over cricket in a different era to their predecessors. Outside of World Cups, the relevance of bilateral ODI series has dwindled significantly over the last few years, with the game’s top, all-format brass often using them as an opportunity to rest before being parachuted in for major tournaments.
Domestically in England, 50-over cricket has been relegated to a development format. The One Day Cup takes place during The Hundred, therefore without almost half of the domestic talent pool. All of that combined means England are potentially fielding their most inexperienced group of players ever in an ODI series.
How much 50-over cricket have England’s ODI cricketers played?
There is an experienced core in England’s squad to face Australia. Adil Rashid is the obvious starting point, as their all-conquering leg-spinning lynchpin. Buttler will also come back into the side once his calf heals, amounting to 300 ODI caps between the two veterans. There’s also a layer of experience beneath them, with Jofra Archer, Reece Topley and Liam Livingstone all having between 20 and 30 ODI appearances. While Topley and Livingstone each have more than 70 List A appearances, Archer’s injuries have capped his to 35.
Duckett’s selection also comes off the back of a depth of List A experience. However, despite his 82 List A matches, he has had little recent 50-over game time. Since 2019, Duckett’s 50-over appearances have been limited to eight ODIs and one England Lions match in 2022, amounting to nine games in five years.
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Phil Salt had a similar story when he made his ODI debut in 2021, having not played a 50-over match for the preceding two years - largely due to the cancellation of the 2020 One Day Cup due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Salt has still only played 35 matches in the format, eight years into his professional career.
While Salt’s path to ODI regular is fairly extreme for a batter of the generation now in their late 20s, it’s not unique. Brydon Carse made his ODI debut in 2021, when almost all of England’s regular squad were forced to isolate for the series against Pakistan due to Covid-19. Before then, he’d played seven List A games, all in 2019.
Since then, his only 50-over cricket has been the 14 ODIs he’s played. While ODIs generally do make up the bulk of cricket in the format for those who regularly play them, previously that’s come after a bulk of 50-over experience beneath international level, rather than learning the format on the job.
It’s an even more exaggerated story for bowlers for whom injuries have plagued what should have been the prime of their careers. At 29 Olly Stone has played four 50-over matches since 2018, while Saqib Mahmood has played six since 2020.
The learning-on-the-job factor will be even more extreme for the generation coming through below. Of Smith’s 17 List A games, only two have come since 2021 - both in last year’s ODI series against Ireland. As for the other two youngsters who could make their debuts against Australia, Jordan Cox has never played a 50-over game in a domestic competition. Three of his four List A caps came for England Lions last year, while the other was for Kent in a warm up game against Pakistan in 2021.
Cox’s lack of 50-over experience in his early career makes John Turner’s 17 List A appearances - including two since 2022 - positively vast, especially when considering, outside of four ODI caps, Matt Potts has played one 50-over game since 2019.
In an age of vastly expanding T20 leagues, packed calendars, and the convergence of the two white-ball formats, dwindling 50-over experience prior to international call-ups is becoming the norm, particularly with how English cricket is now set-up. Equally, there’s the ‘eye-factor’. Players who coaches spy as talented for the future are fast-tracked into international squads to gain their experience, instead of slogging away on the domestic circuit.
Brook is a case-in-point for this. Before making his ODI debut last year, he had last played a 50-over game in 2019, and is now captaining 12 months on from originally being left out of England’s World Cup squad. Bilateral series are now largely how players gain the bulk 50-over experience, as a sandwich layer in between major tournaments.
Ben Duckett falls five runs short of a second ODI century.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) September 19, 2024
Both he and Harry Brook have been caught and bowled by Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession to leave England 232-4 with 15 overs to go at Trent Bridge.
Scorecard ➡️ https://t.co/ttFYTJwZQR#ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/SsAbYr3qGW
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