ENG vs SA | 2nd ODI | Three areas to work on for England
England’s miserable current ODI form is a secret to none. After suffering a harsh 2-1 defeat against India, the hosts comprehensively lost the first ODI against South Africa by 107 runs in Chester-le-Street on Tuesday.
As the Englishmen head to clash with the Proteas in the second ODI at Old Trafford today, here we list three key areas to work on for them in this must-win encounter.
England batters need to be a bit more positive in the middle overs
England were bundled out for less than 275 in their last four ODIs. This indicates poor batting has been their nemesis recently.
By digging a bit deeper, it has been found that the performance of the English batters in the middle overs has been disappointing, to say the least. Statistically, England batters have averaged just 26.3 and struck at a mediocre rate of 83.22 in these four matches. Further, they have lost a wicket in almost every 31 balls, which has derailed their innings in this phase.
So, they need to change their timid game-plan in the middle overs to emerge victorious in this game.
England need to improve their game against spin
England’s mediocre batting in middle overs can be credited to their performance against spinners. In the last four games, English batters have averaged just 19.84 and struck at an abysmally low rate of 79.87 against spin bowling. This indicates that they have neither treated the tweakers as scoring options nor conserved their wickets against them.
Therefore, someone from the rock-solid English batting unit needs to take on the spinners.
English spinners need to step up
The spinners of a team are always expected to provide them with breakthroughs, especially in the middle overs. However, the returns of English spinners with the ball have been disappointing in these four games.
England spinners have averaged 47.2 and struck at an extremely ordinary rate of 48.2 since the India ODIs. They have also leaked runs at an ordinary economy rate of 5.87, which suggests how easily they have been dealt with in recent times.
Adil Rashid, the hosts’ premier spinner, went for 63 without a wicket in the last game. The duo of Rashid and Moeen should step up if they want their team to level the series today.
Apart from the aforementioned things, the England batters must be a bit more watchful against hard length and short-pitched bowling. The opponent seamers dismantled England’s batting order with this strategy, picking 44.45 per cent of the total wickets by hitting the hard and short lengths.
As Jos Buttler rightly mentioned post the last match, the three lions are going through a transition phase in ODI cricket. However, I feel that if they improve these areas of their game, they can bring themselves back on the winning track today.
 "Debashis Sarangi")
