Once the reigning world champion in both white-ball formats, England bungled two World Cup defences, in 2023 and 2024, leading to changes in the coaching staff and player personnel. However, resisting any knee-jerk reaction regarding captaincy, the team has persisted with Jos Buttler through troubled times, and it will hope the 34-year-old repays the faith by reversing England’s fortunes in the ICC Champions Trophy.
Test coach Brendon McCullum took over the reins of the white-ball teams from Matthew Mott and is expected to effect a Bazball-like reset that has come to define his coaching tenure in the longest format.
However, England’s lead-up to the ICC event hit an ironic note when 34-year-old Joe Root, who hadn’t featured in a single ODI since the 2023 World Cup ahead of the India series, was named in the squad. To his credit, Root showed little signs of rust with a fine half-century in the second ODI. He was immediately talked up as pivotal to England’s prospects on Pakistani pitches that could aid spin bowling.
Root will help paper over England’s ineptness against spinners, which was on display during the 2-3 series defeat at home against Australia last year. That Root has also found a faster gear to his batting should help his seamless integration into a side that has been the fastest-scoring team (6.02 runs per over) in one-dayers since the ODI World Cup in 2023.
With openers Ben Duckett and Phil Salt setting the pace, Root is more than capable of maintaining the tempo or dropping anchor before a power-packed middle-order, comprising Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and Buttler, takes over. But England will want its bowling to gel into a cohesive unit more than its batting. If its batters have led the charts with their high-risk approach, England’s bowlers have leaked 6.41 runs an over on average — the most by any team since the World Cup in 2023.
With injury-prone Jofra Archer and Mark Wood leading the attack, England was forced to include six seamers in its squad, leaving room for just one frontline spinner in Adil Rashid. The spin-bowling duties will thus also have to be shouldered by Root and Livingstone in the absence of budding all-rounder Jacob Bethell, who was ruled out due to an injury suffered in the series against India.
England will also be without Ben Stokes and Sam Curran — its heroes of ICC title wins in 2019 and 2022 — and will need seam-bowling all-rounders Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton to step up with both bat and ball. While Stokes is managing his injury to be fit in time for The Ashes later this year, Curran’s dwindling stocks with the ball have seen him being left out. Stokes and Curran’s absences leave England without a left-handed option in the middle-order and a left-arm seamer in the bowling ranks, respectively.
England has won just four of the 13 ODIs it has played since its exit at the 2023 ODI World Cup and will head into the marquee event on the back of four consecutive series defeats — against India and two against West Indies away, and one against Australia at home. However, during this period, it has also had to contend with a spate of injuries to key players, including skipper Buttler. If those returning from injury and a prolonged absence from the format can shake off the lack of game time, England has the firepower to bid for a maiden Champions Trophy title.
Player to watch
A hit-the-deck bowler who has a penchant for picking wickets, Brydon Carse can be a handful on flat decks in Lahore and Karachi.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS
A hit-the-deck bowler who has a penchant for picking wickets, Brydon Carse can be a handful on flat decks in Lahore and Karachi.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS
Though he is 29, Carse is still taking baby steps in international cricket, and the Champions Trophy will present him with the perfect opportunity to cement his place as England’s premier seam-bowling all-rounder. A hit-the-deck bowler who has a penchant for picking wickets, Carse can be a handful on flat decks in Lahore and Karachi — England’s venues for its group-stage games against Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa. He can also contribute with lower-order runs, most recently seen during his 17-ball 31 in the T20I against India at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Full squad
England: Jos Buttler (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood