If Buttler has too much to do with the captaincy and starting place, England may have to find another keeper. Photo: GETTY IMAGES/ARUN SANKAR
England have white ball talent so there is no need to worry about how they will recover from this World Cup, but there are a few aspects they need to seriously think about.
< p>Firstly, I would start with Jos Buttler. Secondly, they need to work on their fitness because other teams are much more athletic and strong than England. There is no excuse for this.
Let's start with Buttler's problem. If you look at how the modern game is developing, it is becoming more aggressive. There have been more sixes hit at this World Cup compared to the last, and there will be even more sixes at the next World Cup. I guarantee it.
The par score used to be 300, now it is 325 and in four years it will be 350. Teams want players who can open the score and score 175 and possibly double hundreds. In my opinion, England have that potential with Buttler. He is our greatest ever white-ball batsman. Wouldn't it be great to see him batting 40 overs rather than 20 or 15 at the end of the innings?
A new role could breathe new life into Buttler, starting with Jonny Bairstow or Ben Duckett. Leadership from the front and aggressiveness in the majority suit him. He is a brilliant spin player when he was in the crease for a while but he struggles with it when he first comes into the game, which happens while batting order.
Talk to the spinners in world cricket, they need a Buttler . came after 30 overs with the score 160 for four. They don't want to go against Buttler after 12 overs when he's 40 or 50 out.
He is 33 years old and in good shape. The batting opening could have cost him another four years. If he finds keeping, opening and captaining too difficult, then find another wicketkeeper-batsman at number 6 or 7 who can hit the ball out of the park. There are a lot of them in English cricket. Jamie Smith is one of them.
I would also put Harry Brook at number 3. I think the plan now is to have power forwards at number three. Just look at what Mitchell Marsh is doing for Australia. If you need an anchor to hit around then they go to four. Joe Root, if he stays, hits four. If not him, then someone like Sam Hain. Firecrackers are needed at five and six. Being left-footed helps too.
Brooke will undoubtedly be a mainstay in England's middle order. Photo: AP/Bikas Das
England have selected Lancashire left-arm spinner Tom Hartley for the tour of the West Indies. If you look at the best spinners in this World Cup, apart from Adam Zampa, they were left-arm spinners: Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner and Keshav Maharaj. There hasn't been a left-arm spinner in ODI cricket in England for a long time. Is Hartley good enough? I don't know at this point, but I like the fact that he's been picked and can hit sixes. They should also look at Jacob Bethell in Warwickshire. He spins with his left hand and hits very aggressively. These are the type of cricketers England can work with.
They have players like Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed. Rashid is expected to cover them for the next few years, after which Rehan will take his place. Will Jacks is an unconventional player that they need to work on so that he too can be a good white ball bowler.
Another thing England didn't have (because Ben Stokes played on one leg) was a fielder with a weapon. They have decent fielders but have been missing someone like Marnus Labuschagne, Ricky Ponting or Jonty Rhodes to make an impact on the field. I hope one of the young players coming through can play brilliantly at back point, extra cover or mid-wicket and can build a wicket or do something.
There are better teams in this World Cup and that is not good for English cricket. Look at the Australians. They are physical sources of energy. South Africans are giants. India are in good shape and so is New Zealand. Rob Key needs to make sure it's a well-run and effective sporting operation.
It's hot and humid in India and it's not easy for our players. I don't know how much they work on fitness, but I don't get the impression that the Buzzballers are top of the tree and I wonder if that has affected the white ball placement.
That laid-back, carefree attitude of the Buzzballers was great, but it shouldn't escalate into white-ball games. In white ball cricket you need to be fit, running between the wickets and in the outfield. Look at Virat Kohli. He spends four hours running around the field and then three or four hours walking and batting and leading the chase. This is fitness.
English cricket must set the standard and fitness is extremely important to the discipline. It shows discipline in life if you are fit and take care of yourself by going to the gym, working out on the treadmill and running miles. Cricket is a running game. I hope Key and his team make sure it matters and don't go back to the old school days. We used to play cricket, use our skills and then sit in the dressing room having a few pints and talking about the game. I loved it too, but it's a different world now.
Rob didn't believe in it as a player, but I hope he sees it differently now. It's okay for people like Shane Warne and Rohit Sharma to take these things in their stride because they were and are maverick geniuses.
Don't design programs around mavericks. You design programs to manage mavericks and make sure they have enough headspace, but 95 percent of players aren't geniuses. They need to do all the one percent exercises — the boring stuff — which means fitness and training that mavericks might think is a bunch of bullshit. I hope Rob doesn't listen to mavericks.
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