Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey

England’s Rise in White-Ball Cricket after 2015 WC Exit | England’s ODI rise since 2015 | England white-ball cricket statistics

England is currently the top team in the limited-overs format of the game. Presently, they are a side considered one of the favorites for every multi-nation tournament.

But, this was not always the case. England, perennial underachievers in ODI tournaments, had a disastrous World Cup campaign in 2015. They not only lost matches, but they lost them by big margins – arch-rivals Australia defeated them by 111 runs in their first game, they lost by eight wickets (and 226 balls remaining) to New Zealand and Sri Lanka won by nine wickets chasing 310.

So, how did England rise to where they are now? From a side that was knocked out of the World Cup by Bangladesh in 2015 to winning the next World Cup? Here, we try to break it down for you:

Andrew Strauss

Andrew Strauss was appointed as Director of England Cricket after the group-stage exit from the 2015 World Cup. It proved to be an excellent decision, as he is one of the biggest reasons why England have transformed into a successful side in the limited-overs format.

He focused on white-ball cricket and it was his two decisions that played a major role in making the side one of the best in white-ball cricket:

1. Introduction of White-Ball Contract:

In 2016, Strauss introduced new “white-ball” contracts for white-ball specialists. In this contract, the players who were playing only limited overs the formats were to be paid around £170,000 on top of their county salary, based on their ranking determined by their performances and other parameters. This helped players financially who were only playing white-ball cricket.

Players could then focus on their white-ball game and this laid the foundation for white-ball specialists like Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Tom Banton, Tom Curran, and Chris Jordan getting into the English side, who are now regular performers.

2. Appointing Trevor Bayliss

Strauss’ decision to appoint Trevor Bayliss as the head coach proved to be a masterstroke. Bayliss completely revamped the brand of cricket played by England. His mantra of “Change in Attitude” did wonders in limited-overs, translated into the World Cup triumph.

This chart shows how successful he has been:

England’s Win/Loss Ratio is the second highest after India since the 2015 World Cup; a huge improvement after their huge disappointment.

Playing Aggressive Cricket

Bayliss built a team that has great batting depth and just attacked from the word go. If you look at the English team in the 2019 WC, you’ll see that everyone except Mark Wood can bat. No wonder that this English side is known for piling up big totals.

This chart shows how aggressive England have been under Bayliss:

England has been the highest scoring team (6.29), that too after playing the most number of games. Also, their average per wicket jumped to 40.70 in 2015-2019 from 32.86 in 2011-2015.

Here is the comparison of 300+ scores by England between 2011-2015 and 2015-2019:

The number of 300+ scores has more than doubled. It’s not surprising when they have a batting lineup of players like Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, who can knock the opposition out of the competition on their own. Then, the likes of Joe Root and Eoin Morgan are in the middle to play the anchor’s role, with Morgan able to attack depending on the situation.

Then they have Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali to go bonkers in the death overs. Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett are more than handy with the bat, and don’t forget Jofra Archer, who is also capable with willow in hand.

This batting line-up is very flexible. They can either keep on attacking for the whole 50 overs or can play sensibly in case the openers are back early. The 2019 World Cup Final was a decent example of cautious yet intent-based batting

This chart shows the number of centuries scored by the English batters between World Cup 2011-2015 and 2015-2019:

This shows how dominant the English batters have been after the 2015 World Cup; they’ve scored more than twice the number centuries after the 2015 exit.

Not only this, but the number of individual 150+ score by an English player has also increased.

This chart represents the same:

There were no 150+ scores by English batters between 2011 & 2015 World Cups. In contrast, there were four 150+ scores by them between the 2015 & 2019 World Cups.

This clearly shows that England has become a batting powerhouse in World Cricket after Trevor Bayliss’s appointment as the head coach.

Flat Tracks

The pitches in England have been a paradise for batters since the 2015 WC. They suit the brand of cricket this English team plays. After the shine is gone off the ball, these flat tracks become even more of a paradise for the batsmen.

You can get the idea from this chart:

This shows how much batters have enjoyed playing in England. Since the 2015 WC, the highest number of runs have been scored on English soil and Runs per Match is second highest around the globe. Players just enjoy batting there.

Also, the conditions are so good for batting that three out of the five 400+ totals since the 2015 WC have been scored by England on their home turf, including the highest score in ODI history of 481 runs vs Australia in 2018.

Some more numbers on this:

This further shows that teams have scored with the highest run-rate in England, in addition to the highest number of centuries scored there since the 2015 WC.

In short, the pitches are tailor-made for this England team as they can score a very big total batting first and are also capable of chasing any target. This has been a key factor in their success.

Eoin Morgan: The Captain

Of course, we can’t forget the contribution of Eoin Morgan as captain, as he led England to their first ever 50-over World Cup Title. He is very calm, composed and isn’t very expressive on the field, which helps his teammates go about their work with confidence and freedom.

Morgan has led the side in 114 games and has won 69 of them with a superb win percentage of 65.42%. He led the team at a time of transition and it’s truly remarkable how he led this team to the World Cup triumph after the group-stage exit in 2015 WC.

Indeed, he is one of the best captains England has ever had.

So with all the points mentioned, we can conclude that there’s a lot of effort behind the success of this English team. They have a director who backs the team. Trevor Bayliss made them “change their attitude”. They build their team around white-ball specialists. The pitches have been made according to their strength, and to go with that, they have Eoin Morgan to lead them.

All these things build an excellent system and it’s no wonder they a successful side.

Thanks for reading!

Written by Robin Rounder. Follow Robin on Twitter today.

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