After suffering a shocking loss to Afghanistan, the defending champions, England, went back to the drawing board to formulate new strategies for South Africa and the Wankhede Stadium.
This strategy entailed removing their underperforming all-rounders, Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran, and selecting specialist bowlers despite their renowned batting depth. However, even this did not go according to plan for them. However, it raised concerns regarding the reasoning behind going against a train of thought that has brought them success and widespread recognition for having redefined the format.
The conditions in India have encouraged other teams besides England to rely on bowling specialists for success, but did Buttler and co. press the emergency button?
This question will be answered when the team’s next match against Sri Lanka at the Chinnasamy Stadium in Bangalore begins. Moeen Ali, the all-rounder, indicated a day prior to the game that there are indications that England will not change their style of play in the middle of a match, but rather return to what was working well, regardless of form.
“I believe it was due to a simple change in approach, as we have not been performing well recently. And we wanted our top six hitters to either attempt to score runs or rely on them to do so. And pursuing 400 is always challenging. We ended up spinning poorly, while South Africa batted extraordinarily well. Clearly, it failed,” he said of the South Africa encounter.
“And I wouldn’t be surprised if it changes and we go back to what we’ve been doing for the last, I don’t know how many years. Yeah, it’s just one of those things that didn’t work on that day. Obviously, we took Mumbai wicket into consideration with that. It just didn’t work,” he added.
Ali, who was dismissed after England’s loss in the tournament’s opening match in Ahmedabad, could be reinstated as the most significant of these changes. In addition to his familiarity with the conditions in Bengaluru, where he has played a significant amount of IPL cricket, Ali’s offspin could prove useful if matchups come into action.
“I think if I do play it could go for a few runs because it’s quite small and a flat wicket, but it’s also good for batting. It’s one of those grounds where scoring is quick and batting deep makes a big difference. If I get the nod, then I’m really looking forward to playing. And I grind out, I play franchise cricket, and it’s a great place to play. It’s a great venue. And yeah, I’ll be pretty excited,” conceded Ali.
In the only World Cup match played at the Chinnaswamy stadium thus far (Australia vs. Pakistan), legspinner Adam Zampa was in action late in the second innings. Ali believes it is likely to persist, given its historical precedent.
“I wish I was a leggy sometimes as well. It’s one of those places where you can go for a lot of runs, but you can also pick a wicket. If you get a big score on the board, then most of the time, leggies get a lot of wickets. Or spinners get a lot of wickets when you get a big score on the board, because the opposition needs to come out playing shots and that works into your favor.
But If I bowl well if I bat well, whatever or Rash bowls well, then he’ll get wickets. I don’t think Zampa getting wickets will give anyone confidence because I’ve seen other leggies bowl well here before so It’s just if you bowl well, you got a good chance.”
