England’s 2019 Males’s Cricket World Cup success is nearly distant historical past in cricketing phrases.
Again then, ‘Bazball’ was only a twinkle within the eye of the recently-retired Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes’ knee was in pretty much as good nick as the center of his bat and Harry Brook was a 20-year-old prospect breaking via into Yorkshire’s first workforce.
Since then, T20 cricket, The Hundred and different white-ball franchise competitions have grown in dimension and stature, leaving one-day cricket seemingly the poor relation of cricket’s three essential codecs.
However because the world’s prime cricketers – and us cricket followers, for that matter – recalibrate to 50-over cricket, how a lot has the format modified since Eoin Morgan’s freewheeling England crashed their solution to glory?
One-day cricket a distant third in priorities?
Each single nation which has certified for the final two World Cups has performed much less one-day cricket within the final 4 years, than within the earlier four-year cycle.
England, for instance, have performed 42 one-day internationals since changing into one of the best on this planet, in comparison with 88 within the earlier cycle.
There’s the caveat of Covid-19 ravaging the cricket calendar for nearly two years, however in that very same four-year interval, England’s males have performed in two T20 World Cups and three Ashes sequence.
Solely Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Netherlands have performed lower than England who, in the identical timeframe, have performed 68 T20 internationals.
Priorities have shifted, in fact.
Successful the World Cup in 2019 on house soil was a acknowledged purpose, even forward of Take a look at and T20 cricket at some factors.
Lately, nonetheless, Take a look at cricket has regained its standing as England’s undisputed precedence.
Is the hole closing?
When England blazed their solution to World Cup glory throughout a four-year interval of domination, constructed on aggressive batting and with no obvious ceiling on the scores they might compile or chase down, the remainder of the world struggled to maintain up.
Between the 2015 World Cup and the beginning of the 2019 marketing campaign, England handed 400 4 instances, with a dizzying whole of 500 seen as inevitable.
They’ve handed 400 simply as soon as within the final 4 years – in opposition to the Netherlands in 2022 after they racked up 498-4.
Maybe extra strikingly, they’ve handed 300 simply 12 instances in ODIs for the reason that final World Cup, in comparison with 38 instances between 2015 and 2019.
They’re one in every of simply three nations to not have improved their run-rate within the present cycle – Bangladesh and New Zealand being the others – though they and India are the one sides to common greater than six an over.
So whereas their common run-rate has dropped, and others have improved, they nonetheless stay forward of the pack.
However… there’s at all times a however!
England have slipped to fifth within the ICC’s world rankings – behind India, Pakistan, Australia and South Africa – and whereas that’s not at all times one of the best gauge of a workforce’s world standing, it will possibly function a tough indicator.
One of many apparent locations the place they seem to have gone backwards is their skill to dominate leg-spin.
Australia’s Adam Zampa and India’s Yuzvendra Chahal have loved success in opposition to them in current sequence’ and it is a part of a wider and regarding pattern, significantly because the World Cup shall be held on the spin-friendly pitches of India.
On this cycle, England are averaging simply 23 in opposition to leg-spin, in comparison with 59 within the four-year interval earlier. Towards all sorts of spin, it has dropped to 37, down from 54.
Of the top-performing bowlers (primarily based on wickets taken) for the 9 different competing nations, six of them are spinners. England’s finest is leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
What is going to World Cup matches in India seem like?
Will probably be a query requested all through the match – what is an efficient whole?
That is, in fact, onerous to measure due to on-the-day circumstances and many others, however the common first-innings rating in ODIs performed in India for the reason that final World Cup is 276.
Groups which have gained the toss have gained 57% of matches, with 73% of toss winners selecting to chase – regardless of solely 50% of chasing groups rising victorious.
Maybe surprisingly, tempo bowling has been far simpler than spin in India on this interval, accounting for 283 wickets at a median of 32 in comparison with 142 at 40.
Okay, so who’s going to win the World Cup?
Groups with the strongest tempo assaults, and whose batters carry out finest in opposition to tempo, are prone to go far.
India and Pakistan are within the prime three in each metrics, with South Africa’s batting in opposition to tempo one of the best on this planet on this cycle.
The opposite workforce with a potent tempo assault is probably slightly shocking: Bangladesh.
They rank second to solely Pakistan, with their tempo bowlers averaging 27.
| Nation | Batting common versus tempo | Nation | Tempo bowling common |
| 1. South Africa | 38.56 | 1. Pakistan | 26.58 |
| 2. India | 38.28 | 2. Bangladesh | 27.12 |
| 3. Pakistan | 35.57 | 3. India | 28.68 |
| 4. England | 35.03 | 4. New Zealand | 29.02 |
| 5. Australia | 32.42 | 5. Sri Lanka | 29.67 |
In abstract, in case you have India or Pakistan within the office sweepstake, you is perhaps within the cash.
Stats, which had been offered by Cricviz, are as much as and together with 2 October 2023.