England’s record-breaking ODI stars on the right path for Champions Trophy glory in 2017

On the brink of a whitewash, Pakistan fought back in the 5th and final One Day International at Cardiff to beat England by a relatively comfortable 4 wicket and 10-ball margin. Despite posting 302 (a total that, in era’s gone by, would have put England in a match-winning position) in the first-innings, England’s bowlers - with Chris Jordan and debutant Liam Dawson being particularly expensive - were unable to secure victory. Defeat saw Trevor Bayliss’ men spurn the opportunity to become the first team to win a home one-day international series 5-0, but this failure to make history is only a small blemish on what has otherwise been an extremely impressive past few weeks for the young England side.

Recent months has seen increasing hype and excitement attached to England’s one-day team and, upon viewing of their latest series win, it is not difficult to see why. Last Tuesday’s brutal dismantling of Pakistan’s weary bowling attack - and the cricket record book - demonstrated England’s devastating potential. England’s total of 444-3 in the first-innings at Trent Bridge marked the highest One Day International score ever recorded - pipping Sri Lanka’s 443-9 against Netherlands 10 years ago - and yet, somehow, it didn’t even come as a surprise. If there was ever a batting line-up to break records then it is the one that England boast - and so they proved on Tuesday. The individual record of highest individual ODI total was broken by Alex Hales who, despite struggling for form all summer, nonchalantly hit 171 off 122 balls on his home ground, before Jos Buttler strode to the crease to score England’s fastest ever ODI half-century, coming off just 22-balls. When you add into the mix the talents of Joe Root (who’s classy run-a-ball 86 went under the radar on Tuesday), Eoin Morgan (57 off 27), Ben Stokes and Jason Roy it would take a brave man to suggest that this isn’t the most exciting batting line-up that England has ever boasted, since the turn of the century, at the very least. The talent within it is so rich that the chances are that at least one of them will excel on any given day and as a result, even if one, two, or even three of them fail to perform, England will more often than not have a sizeable score to defend - something which is proven by the fact that we have managed to surpass 350 on six occasions in the past twelve months. 350 being a score that, as recently as just three or four years ago, would have been seen as a relatively unrealistic target.

England’s talents are not only resourced within their batting line-up, however, and this series has demonstrated on numerous occasions the effectiveness of our bowlers. Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett and the two spinners, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, all impressed in periods across the series and managed to restrict Pakistan to under 280 in four out of the five innings - with the only time this figure was breached, in Sunday’s defeat, being when Plunkett, Rashid and Ali were all rested. It was the spin duo that impressed in the series defeat of Sri Lanka back at the beginning of the summer and their form has continued. The fourth ODI at Headingley saw the pair really come to the fore as combined figures of 5-86 in their 20 overs, at a run-rate of little over 4 an over, helped England restrict Pakistan to just 247-8, their lowest score of the series. With the upcoming trips to Bangladesh and India looming on the horizon, spin will be crucial to any success for England and thus the form shown by Rashid and Ali is promising. Chris Woakes, who has this summer emerged as one of England’s leading bowlers, took 9 wickets in his four appearances, whilst Mark Wood, returning from injury, has looked threatening and fast.

As a follower of England cricket it is important to never get too carried away, but there is no doubting that our current crop are a very, very special bunch. If Bayliss and Morgan can maintain the current levels of careful nurturing and continue to aid the development and improvement of our young stars then there is no reason to say that, come this time in twelve months, England will not be owners of the Champions Trophy…

…what was that I said about not getting carried away?