New-look England still working out the kinks

Trust the result, not the process. England deserved to lose this series. But that doesn't make them a bad side, just a new one.

This is a generation of players who learned the ODI game by watching the arguably most revolutionary team to ever play the format. A team that set the template of how to play ODI cricket at full throttle, meaning every young player in the country had it pre-ordained to them that if you want in, this is how you have to do it. So they started running. Then List A cricket all but disappeared and that frenetic six-a-ball tempo was pushed further. How fast mattered as much as how many. The result is a generation of players who learned to run a T20, but not walk an ODI.

On Saturday at the Kensington Oval, the only members of England's top six to make double figures were Will Jacks and Ben Duckett. Jos Buttler was caught hooking first ball, Harry Brook was superbly run out, Zak Crawley was caught in the slips and Phil Salt was out in the first over, meaning he has now reached the end of the first powerplay in just two of his 17 ODI innings.

That's not to say this is some catastrophic disaster or structural failing of whoever. The method brought England great and historic success. It changed the way the game is played and in that regard, there's no greater legacy. It's just that it might be a bit slow for a while whilst we wait for Salt and Jacks to finish chapter one of The Tortoise and The Hare.

"You can't get experience if you don't give people experience to play and be in those situations," Buttler said in the moments after England's four-wicket defeat. "But that's why you give people the exposure. The series is the start of a new journey for this team - it's a very young side barring myself in terms of experience in the number of caps, so guys will have taken a lot from this and learn a lot. There's been some good performances throughout the way and obviously, we're disappointed to lose the series, but the guys will be better for this one."

This isn't a drive-by on The Hundred or an angry fist shaking at the schedule. Realistically, England are one of the three most privileged nations in the world game. The problems that exist here, do so elsewhere and tenfold.

But where England does stand apart is that set mantra buried into their brain of the way you must play. For all the talk of 'freedom' within the white-ball set-up of the last eight years and the Test side as of now, there has also never been a more narrow selection criteria you must abide by. You are free to be yourself, so long as you can strike at 160.

The struggles of the ODI side in this series should result in a greater appreciation of the sheer quality of the team that came prior and an understanding that the gap between ODI cricket and T20 is greater than we thought.

That gap was no better summarised by Liam Livingstone playing one of his best ODI innings to save England from 49 for 5, before spooning to mid-on just moments after his set-partner Duckett had been dismissed at the other end. A teenager who'd finally cracked quadratic equations, doing all the steps right and then sticking the wrong answer down at the end.

We've also been here before. Eighteen months ago, England went into the final match of a three-Test series against the West Indies level, satisfied they'd controlled the opening two matches. Then they lost. After that defeat, interim head coach Paul Collingwood said he "couldn't be more positive about what we've done over the past three-and-a-half-weeks."

That was a nonsense then and is a nonsense now. Elite sport is a results-oriented business and against a West Indies side widely derided for being in constant turmoil, England have now lost three series in the Caribbean in the last two years. A T20 series in January 2022. A Test series in March 2022. And now an ODI one in December 2023. The perfect hat-trick.

The context of the opposition matters. This is a West Indies side going through as much of a reboot as England are. England are rebranding because they had a bad ODI World Cup. West Indies are rebranding because they didn't get there.

But the T20 defeat in January 2022 preceded a World Cup win and the Test defeat preceded the Stokes-McCullum revolution. There's nothing saying that this loss can't lead to something similar.

"This is the start of a new team and new journey," said Buttler. "There's obviously guys who will push to come back into this side as well but it's very much just going to keep looking forward and be where your feet are - and just sort of build something. Give them exposure, give them opportunity - there is a hell of a lot of talent and depth and guys will get better and better."

For all the power of the previous generation, something that is matched within the current team, they also held an ability to win games slowly as well as quickly. The sim game, the middle-over period where the world switches off, but the best turn on. That skill remains to be learned.

No-one has a right to be good at something they don't do. And at a human level, there is something reassuring that England poured their heart into their preparations for the 2019 World Cup and found success. Then rocked up casually for the 2023 World Cup - and didn't. Quantity of preparation co-related with quality of result.

This loss hurt an England team that needed a win to boost morale and remind them of the quality that is housed in the changing room. The gossip after the World Cup was that there was no gossip. No fractures, no falling out, just a lack of results. This is a group that is together and ready to move forward.

Progress will be difficult, with England next playing ODIs in September when Australia pay a random visit. But despite the loss, there is an excellent England ODI side waiting to emerge. It just may take a bit longer for them to arrive than many assumed.