England cricket: Is there a talent overflow for the World Champions?

In 2015, the England were nowhere near World Cup glory with the team shockingly crashing out of the group stage of the 2015 ICC World Cup with humiliating losses to New Zealand and Bangladesh. Eoin Morgan, after being handed the reins from Alastair Cook, had little time to adjust to the role and the team could not find the right combinations for the marquee event.

To come out of this shocker, Morgan knew things had to change. Four years later, England reached the pinnacle of world cricket by becoming the World Champions with probably one of the best ODI sides of all time which played a different brand of cricket altogether. The great turnaround was complete.

Team building after World Cup glory is a huge challenge as the standard set is very high. In order to be up for this challenge and maintain the same standard which was set in 2019, England recently announced a 55-member training squad which allows players to train outside despite the strict restrictions due to the pandemic.

At this juncture, the problem of talent overflow and management of the same is very important. To understand this, here is a list of contenders who are most likely to make it to England cricket squads once cricket resumes. These contenders are compared with players in the current squad and brought together.

England cricket roles across formats: The contenders

Openers

Currently, in Tests, Dom Sibley, thanks to a brilliant hundred in the 2nd Test against South Africa in the recent tour and a fantastic 2019 County season, has cemented his place at the top. Alongside Sibley, Rory Burns has also worked his way to a permanent spot at the top for England with some gritty performances which include a brilliant Ashes hundred.

Zak Crawley, who scored 820 runs at an average of 34.17 in the 2019 county season, is also one of the contenders for this spot. Also, as a surprise, Keaton Jennings, considering his performances in the Asian sub-continent, was picked for the squad to tour Sri Lanka, which was later postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ODI slots seem to be filled appropriately with Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow opening the batting. The T20 slots also seem to be occupied by Jason Roy and Jos Buttler. James Vince, Alex Hales, and Dawid Malan make a strong case to be picked in the ODI and T20 sides as they have been performing consistently at the domestic level and various T20 leagues across the world.

James Vince and Dawid Malan lead Hampshire and Middlesex County ODI sides respectively and have been performing well enough to retain their positions. Coming to the T20 scheme of things, Alex Hales, in 2019 and the early part of 2020, has scored 1590 runs at an average of 29.44 across various T20 leagues.

Dawid Malan was the highest run-scorer in the England tour of New Zealand T20 series in 2019. Malan has piled up 1240 runs at an average of 32.63 across various leagues. James Vince follows with 1109 runs at an average of 27.72. Malan makes a stronger case to be a part of the England team as he has been a part of the T20 setup for almost a year and is currently ranked #6 in the ICC T20 Batsmen rankings.

Youngsters like Tom Banton, Phil Salt, and Liam Livingstone have had an amazing season of T20 leagues and should be raring to go if one among these 3 is to be replaced.

Dawid Malan - Opening Batsman, England Cricket

Middle-order

Slots 3,4 and 5 at the Test level seem to be appropriately filled for England t with Joe Denly, Joe Root and Ben Stokes occupying these positions. Denly, Root and Stokes have been performing exceptionally well at this level with sound technique and composure. Eoin Morgan comes into the picture at the ODI and the T20 level and has no problem fitting in and doing what he does best.

Slots 6 and 7 are a bit of a worry at the Test level as Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali or Jos Buttler have not been performing consistently at this level although they are performing exceptionally well at the ODI and T20 level.

This is where a batsman like Sam Northeast, who has had a great 2019 county season, comes into the picture. Picking him might help England in the long run in Tests. Bairstow, who is currently behind the wickets, might have to pave way for Ollie Pope or Ben Foakes with both of them having the potential to keep wickets at the biggest level. It would help Bairstow, in the long run, to focus on his game in the limited-overs and in turn benefit England.

In ODIs, Liam Dawson was picked up for the World Cup alone and was dropped from the squad for future tours. He probably deserves another chance to prove his ability at the international level.

Bowlers

The Test fast bowling line-up is loaded with quicks for England Cricket with James Anderson and Stuart Broad handling the new ball and Jofra Archer as the first change bowler. With Sam Curran, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and newbies like Olly Stone and Saqib Mahmood in the sidelines, fast bowling in Tests is not a concern for England cricket.

But there might be too many options to choose from for England cricket. The spin department has Dom Bess and Jack Leach who can be picked for tours depending on the opponents' batting line-up. Moeen Ali's services as a spinner might have to shift to limited-overs games as there are two viable full-time options already available for England Cricket.

In limited-overs, Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer leading the attack and Mark Wood or Chris Jordan at first change seem very reasonable options to have. But, the concern of talent overflow needs to be addressed.

England cricket's primary middle-overs bowlers for 4 years was Liam Plunkett. He was one among the two fast bowlers in the top 11 bowlers to pick the highest number of wickets in the middle overs from 2015 till the 2019 World Cup.

But, after the World Cup, Liam Plunkett was dropped from the England squad for reasons unknown. He was replaced by Tom Curran effectively in all formats and was also dropped from the central contract list.

Plunkett's performance saw no visible dip, yet he was dropped to make way for youngsters like Pat Brown, Saqib Mahmood, and Tom Curran. This talent overflow leaves most of the cricket boards in dilemma. When there are too many options to choose from, boards might eventually decide to choose players based on their age as the priority and not the potential. Players like Sam Billings, David Willey, and Liam Dawson per se faced the same problem and eventually got dropped from the team.

Liam Plunkett - ICC World Cup winner

So, what should be done to avoid this overflow? England should opt for different squads across formats. This ensures that all players, despite their age, get an opportunity to play for the country and perform to their fullest potential. In England's case particularly, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Jofra Archer might be the players who can play all formats.

But, England should ensure that players around them are rotated across formats and that these players are given enough opportunity to showcase their talent.