ODI World Cup: Jos Buttler and his woes of watching England’s white-ball reputation slip away | Cricket-world-cup News

The guards and groundsmen were still stretching their limbs, siesta-ing on the shaded part of the ground and letting out deep yawns when Jos Buttler stepped onto the ground on a lazy pre-winter afternoon in Bangalore. He peered at the sun—it might have been more benign than the Mumbai inferno. He watched the eagles swoop down, he wandered to the square where three pitches lay wrapped in a thin cover of tent-cloth. A groundsman offered a sneak-peak, a bemused expression spread across his face.
As he trudged back to the dressing room, he paused and turned back. He could see some of England’’s finest engaged in their chores. Here was Ben Stokes, the miracle worker, swinging for the fences. There was Joe Root, England’s finest batsmen of this generation, rehearsing late-cuts. The spin pair—Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali—were locked in a long a chat. Jonny Bairstow was shadow-batting, literally under the shade of a stand. Six of England’s World Cup winners of 2019 are in the 2023 edition too. Thirteen of them had packed themselves in the 2022 T20 World Cup triumph, less than a year ago. Though Eoin Morgan, the alchem of their white-ball success, had retired, England seemed quite a formidable force in the build-up to the World Cup, as you would expect from multiple-format defending world champions.
Yet, in the space of three weeks and three mind-breaking defeats, they find themselves not only on the precipice of crashing out of the tournament, but also wondering whether it is the beginning of the end of an era, or more damningly, whether the era has already ended and they are merely sleep-losing through a tournament. The side clearly is aging. England are the oldest team in this tournament (average age being 31.8), but not too old enough to be called past their prime. But for the 35-plus-year-old spinners, most of them are in their early 30s, not a time when the toll of cricketing years takes a toll on their body. Moeen said as much: “I think there’s still a lot of players that can play for a long time. There’s obviously a few of us who are a bit older, more than likely won’t make the next World Cup, but there’s a lot of players who have been around for years that will be, and I don’t think it’s the end of anything.”
The performances cannot go bewilderingly downhill in a handful of months after all. Some of these same players were star-performers in the Ashes a few months ago too. They can’t be tired either, because they were not returning from a frenetic season. An end of the year tournament could be exhaustive, both on the mind and body, but they claimed the T20 World Cup around the same time this year. The other day Joe Root ascribed the non-performance to not playing enough games. No doubt, they could have perhaps benefitted from playing more ODIs (played just four in the last six months), but are not these veterans who could seamlessly switch formats? Like all better-performing do. South Africa had played just one more than England in the same span.
Cricket – ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – England Practice – Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, India – October 25, 2023 England’s Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone during practice REUTERS/Andrew Boyers
Perhaps, it could be that motivation is drying up, the subconscious knowledge they have won it all shackling them in the face of adversity. Little doubt that defending the title and establishing themselves as an all-time great team like Australia at the start of the century is tempting enough, but when you lose three games out of four, a feeling of resignation would set in, apart from other malaises.
Like their combination—England are yet to figure out their best eleven, which could be attributed to fewer playing minutes. One match, they go for batting depth with utility men; in the next they take an exact U-turn and load specials. Like their form. Against South Africa and New Zealand, they conceded close to eight runs an over; against Afghanan’s their inadequacies against spinners were exposed. Apart from Root none has been consent. Even Dawid Malan clicked in just a lone innings (140 against South Africa). The white-ball poster boys—Bairstow and Buttler—have eked out 184 runs between them. Among the bowlers, only Rashid and part-timer Liam Livingstone have conceded less than six runs an over.
But beyond these. England seem to have lost the tournament in their mind. Evident was a sense of flatness, and a lack of joy. Never was it more evident when they met South Africa. Here, on the one hand, was the tactical dominance of South Africa, the uninhibited aggression and clarity of thought, and there, fattened on success, was the decadence that can befall a white-ball giant.Most Read
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In the backdrop, there is the draction of Stokes turning down a three-year contract and instead opting for a one-year term, throwing doubts about his long-term future with England. There was Root talking about ODI doomsday too. None of it though deflects from the mess England have found themselves in, a heap of broken minds.

A comeback is not beyond them, at least mathematically—five more games remain to claw them back into the tournament. Or as Moeen said, “potentially the start of something (significant).” Often in these aching times, they resort to the Ashes balm, the stirring fight back last England summer, from 2-0 to 2-2. But there, though, is a big difference. At no point in the series, did they look draught. Both the Tests they lost could have been won too. The same could not be said of the World Cup team, where they were thoroughly beaten in all three games.
The joylessness in the middle transformed to the nets too, where they resembled a bunch of scattered individuals rather than a close-knitted group. Scanning them all was Buttler, his face still wearing a bemused expression. He could see some of his country’s all-time legends. Whether their time had slowed and stretched out or coming to a complete stop could be the most defining aspect of watching England in the coming days.