Mott requires endurance with England’s new-era white-ball crew
Matthew Mott has known as for endurance with England’s new-era white-ball crew as a piece in progress, stressing that they’ve solely had three alternatives to play collectively.
England succumbed to a four-wicket defeat in Barbados to lose their first collection following a tough World Cup marketing campaign 2-1.
A bunch which featured simply 4 gamers to have performed greater than 10 ODIs, discovered themselves in robust positions in all three matches towards a West Indies facet going via the same reboot having did not qualify for the World Cup.
However, a late-innings onslaught from Shai Hope and Romario Shepherd within the opening match noticed England slip to a four-wicket defeat in Antigua, earlier than dropping by the identical margin on the Kensington Oval after a top-order collapse gave England a complete of simply 188 to defend in a rain-reduced recreation.
“We haven’t put a complete game together and that’s the frustration,” Mott, England’s head coach, stated instantly after the defeat. “We put ourselves in a chance to win all three games and come away with a series loss, so that’s not ideal.
“But there are undoubtedly some actually good indicators there that there is a group of gamers who love enjoying with one another. They’re some actually good mates in there and I feel it will actually take the sport ahead.”
In line for explicit reward had been Rehan Ahmed and Sam Curran. Rehan, described by Mott as a “revelation”, has been tasked with filling the almighty shoes of Adil Rashid and took five wickets across the series at an average of 23.40 and an economy of 4.33. On the other hand, Curran had a mixed series. In the opening ODI, he showed his class with the bat to save England’s innings from the perilous position of 239 for 7, before conceding the worst ever figures of an England player in ODIs as he was taken for 0 for 98.
“Sam’s undoubtedly a participant that we actually wish to spend money on,” Mott said, with Curran proving his qualities with the ball in the second match where his triple-strike in the powerplay put England ahead of the game. “He’s obtained a number of qualities that we like and he is obtained the sport to essentially play nicely.”
A point of pride for Mott was the fight England showed to almost steal an unlikely victory from the final ODI. Suffering from the natural disadvantage of bowling second in a rain-affected match, England were faced with greasy conditions that made it harder for their spinners to grip the ball and easier for the West Indies batters to play seam. But thanks to a Will Jacks-inspired performance with the ball, England reduced West Indies to 135 for 6, with 53 runs still required for victory.
“I assumed at the moment we confirmed a number of character and spirit to combat all day,” Mott said. “You do not wish to make excuses, however to hold in there as a crew and present the combat that they did, throwing themselves round and almost snatching one was one thing that we’re in search of.”
After three months of almost exclusive ODI focus, England’s attention now turns to T20s, with the five-match series against West Indies starting on Tuesday in Barbados.
“We’ve performed actually good T20 cricket over a time period. It’s all the time good while you lose a collection to vary the format,” Mott said, also confirming that Jos Buttler will return to opening the batting after spending the New Zealand series in September lower down the order. “You transfer on fairly shortly. It’s solely a few days, it will not be that totally different. Obviously you’ve got obtained a couple of new gamers coming in with expertise. But it is a lot of a muchness actually.”
There are five changes to England’s personnel in the Caribbean, with Chris Woakes, Rashid, Moeen Ali, Reece Topley and Tymal Mills joining the squad for the T20 leg. Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Matthew Potts, Tom Hartley and Brydon Carse will head home.
“It’s most likely simpler transitioning again,” Mott said. “T20 is, notably for the batting group, fairly clear, you exit and take the sport on, there’s not a number of lifeless balls. And from the bowling group, you are making an attempt to hit your variations as a lot as you’ll be able to and deny them hitting alternatives. So I feel we’ll be positive. We’ve obtained a few days to work on it and searching ahead to it.”
Also becoming a member of the England set-up is Andrew Flintoff, who will continue the first team mentoring role he took up in the summer as part of his first steps back into the public eye following his serious car crash whilst filming Top Gear.
Flintoff, whose position is now paid, was a part of the backroom workers for each the New Zealand white-ball collection and the house ODIs towards Ireland earlier than he flew to Abu Dhabi together with Graeme Swann as a part of the England Lions’ red-ball coaching camp. It has been a high-profile return to teaching for Flintoff, who has additionally been employed as Northern Superchargers head coach for the 2024 version of The Hundred.
Cameron Ponsonby is a contract cricket author in London. @cameronponsonby