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England, take ODIs seriously if you want to win

England's lack of consistency in ODIs has resulted in them hardly winning any ICC events.

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England are yet to win the World Cup, though they have reached the final thrice in 1979, 1987 and 1992 © Getty Images

England’s record in One-day International (ODI) cricket is nothing to be spoken off. They never had a consistent one-day team. As a result they haven’t won any ICC tournament in this format. Sandipan Banerjee explores more about England’s struggle in cricket in coloured clothing.

If we talk about admirable and consistent one-day team in modern era, we can immediately think of Ricky Ponting‘s Australia, Graeme Smith‘s South Africa, and MS Dhoni‘s India. Apart from these big three, Sri Lanka, Pakistan (under Inzamam-ul-Haq) and even New Zealand will also feature in the list of decent and steady performer of ODI cricket. But England, which has an excellent record in Test matches never had a consistent one-day team which can adopt into frame of limited over’s format.

A diehard England fan would say that the three lions reached three World cup finals (1975,1979, and 1992). But limited over’s cricket was different on those days. There were less restrictions in the rules of ODIs. Since the late nineties, however, the definition of ODIs started to change. In 21st century the modified version of 50-over cricket is completely different and in this tailored edition, the English team only reached two ICC Champion’s trophy finals (2004, 2013), both at their home conditions.

The problem lies in the priority. Test cricket (The Ashes, to be specific) is England’s priority. The English cricketers wants to win the Ashes more than they want to win the World Cup. Great English players like, Mike Gatting, Nassir Hussain, Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss, who all have decorated Test career, but when it comes to white ball cricket, they struggled to get going.

It’s hard to imagine a team like England have only one player (Paul Collingwood) with 5,000 runs in ODIs, with Ian Bell being the next on the list. Big players of current team, Alastair Cook, James Anderson also struggle in the limited over’s format.

If we do some analysis than it can be seen in the 21st century, England has played total 301 ODIs, in which they won 140 and lost 144. The win-loss ratio is rather poor, just 0.97. Compare this with their win-loss ratio in Test cricket, which is very impressive, 1.48 (77 wins and 52 losses in 176 matches).

Lets dig dipper. Among England’s 301ODIs ( In the 21st centuries) 136 were played in England, in which they won 64. But their away record is poor. Only 76 wins in 165 ODIs outside England. Not a 50 percent winning record away from home, which itself confirms England’s struggle. On the other hand, look at their rivals, Australia. Their win-loss ratio in this century in Tests is 2.74 (96 wins out of 157 matches) and in ODIs 2.59 (249 wins in 366 matches). Their performances in Tests and ODIs are quite consistent, which is a sign of a fine team.

Tests (2001-2014)

Team

Match

Win

Loss

W/L Ratio

Australia

157

96

35

2.74

South Africa

138

69

37

1.86

England

176

77

52

1.48

India

147

59

42

1.4

Sri Lanka

127

52

40

1.3

Pakistan

109

41

43

0.95

New Zealand

109

31

43

0.72

West Indies

130

23

68

0.33

Zimbabwe

46

8

32

0.25

Bangladesh

82

4

67

0.05

 ODIS (2001-2014)

Team

Match

Win

Loss

W/L Ratio

Australia

366

249

96

2.59

South Africa

293

181

100

1.81

India

398

220

154

1.42

Pakistan

335

187

139

1.34

Sri Lanka

387

210

158

1.32

England

301

140

144

0.97

New Zealand

294

134

140

0.96

West Indies

309

127

163

0.77

Bangladesh

248

77

167

0.46

Zimbabwe

259

67

186

0.36

With the current infrastructure and facilities, getting good one day cricketers won’t be a headache for England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Their current players like Eoin Morgan, Ian Bell, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes have potential to excel in one-day cricket. But the problem lies in the mindset. Unless the players take the limited–over cricket more seriously, the struggle for England in coloured clothing will continue.

Complete coverage of India’s tour to England here

(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at Cricket Country. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)

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