Marcus Trescothick defends quality of English white-ball cricket after crushing defeat

Interim head coach Marcus Trescothick has defended his young ODI squad after their crushing eight-wicket defeat to the West Indies, saying the result is not reflective of English white-ball cricket.

England’s loss to the West Indies was a twelfth ODI defeat in 18 matches since the start of the 2023 World Cup and gave a brutal reality check to a new-look eleven that included four debutants.

On a tacky surface, England were bowled out for 209, before putting on an encouraging, but ultimately fruitless display with the ball as Windies opener Evin Lewis let loose for 94 off 69 balls.

“I think it’s certainly not where England cricket is at,” Trescothick said after the game. “Because for a long period of time now you’ve not had our main team in white-ball games. You don’t really know where white-ball cricket is.

“I think with the system that we’ve had and the volume of cricket that we’ve been trying to play and still look after the players, I think you could put a team together tomorrow for a World Cup, and it would probably look different to what you had this series and some of the series that we played against Australia.

“So I don’t think you can judge it to say, look where white-ball cricket is at the moment. It’s been a tough period of time, there’s no doubt about it, but that’s been challenges from numerous different things.”

The current series is missing several players due to the tour being sandwiched by England’s Test tours of Pakistan and New Zealand. But the squad picked for the Australia series was close to full strength, with Joe Root and Gus Atkinson rested but other absences such as Jos Buttler and Mark Wood missing through injury. The same could be said of the previous group to tour the Caribbean last year, when the squad picked was meant to signal a new age, while the World Cup squad was certainly first string. All this alongside uncertainty over Ben Stokes’ white-ball future.

The nature of the defeat has called into question England’s absolute policy on prioritising youth, with Jordan Cox, in just his fifth List A match, walking out on debut for England at No.3, with the 21-year-old Jacob Bethell at No.4. Of the top six, only Phil Salt and Will Jacks had batted in those positions for England more than once in their careers

“It’s probably a better question for the selectors more than anything else. It’s not my decision who comes in,” Trescothick said.

“But I think you can see from the plan of the England team in the last year, probably, and maybe a little bit further back, how much we want to invest in the next generation.

“Playing people who have played before would probably be going against the mantra of what we’re trying to do at the moment.”

England’s innings saw five of the top six caught in the 30-yard-circle, as the balance between defence and attack eluded them to be bowled out in 45.1 overs.

“We’ve got to try and bat 50 overs first and foremost,” said Trescothick. “The real skill in white-ball cricket in particular is the tempo and the balance between aggression and batting for long periods of time.

“We will always be a team that is going to try and be aggressive, the pitch made it quite tricky to do that.”

This is Trescothick’s last tour at the helm of the white-ball team before Brendon McCullum takes over the job in January. Placed in charge of an exceptionally inexperienced group, one of the biggest challenges, according to Trescothick, has been finding the balance between emphasising the opportunity is a ‘free hit’ to England’s youngsters, while also instilling a win-first mentality.

“I am trying to get the priority right at the moment. I want to win every game and we dictate that in the dressing room. But we also want to see a few players in the environment before the structure changes and Brendon takes over. So, why not give them the opportunity to thrive in this environment?

“That’s very much how we’re framing it. The opportunities are there for the guys to come in. We’ve seen four debutants in this match, we’ve got a couple other young guys in the squad who may make their debut across the next two weeks. [With the opportunity] you’re going to be further up the ladder than you were six days ago. So go out there and show what you can do.”

Trescothick’s own role in the white-ball set up beyond January is undecided.

“I don’t know just yet,” he said. “We’ve got a bit of a plan behind the scenes, but nothing has been confirmed as such.

“I am not going to say which way it’s all going to sit, because it would probably give it away too much, but obviously Brendon’s going to come in and take control of the full show and then he will dictate what and where we are going to be and how that’s going to look.”