Stokes and Woakes ready to lead transformed England on home soil

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  • Star men: All-rounders Stokes and Woakes.

    Given their tendency to suffer under the weight of expectation, the notion that England are red-hot favourites to win their first one-day trophy may seem misjudged.

    Their problem is not reaching finals but winning them. Out of five one-day trophy finales they have won zilch. And who could forget their last failure on the big stage, when Ben Stokes had a World T20 victory in the palm of his hand before Carlos Brathwaite swatted those hopes away with six after six.

    That was 14 months ago and quite remarkably there have been no negative after-effects, no evidence of a blossoming side retreating into its shell. England have acquired that quintessentially British trait – a stiff upper lip – while producing the statistics that should make other teams tremble.

    Perversely England have ditched many of their other self-defeating hallmarks since the disastrous 2015 World Cup group stage exit. “We need to stop being so English. We are really English at times and it feels institutionalised,” said Ravi Bopara at the time. “We need to change our culture and we need to change it quickly.”

    What happened to Bopara was indicative of England’s prehistoric mindset. The all-rounder was dropped on the eve of the tournament – despite having played in the warm-up matches – for batsman Gary Ballance, who proceeded to make a painful 36 runs across four games.

    Bopara was not a star player or even in the best of form, but imagine if current-day England dropped the all-round talents of a Ben Stokes or Chris Woakes, on a last-minute impulse just because they were going through a rough spell?

    The powers-that-be are unlikely to have been swayed by Bopara’s comments but they followed his advice anyway. In came new head coach Trevor Bayliss, who in his understated way encouraged England to take the handbrake off. In came Andrew Strauss as director of cricket, who was initially seen as another stuffy blazer when he refused to countenance the return of Kevin Pietersen, but has instead encouraged players to broaden their horizons – particularly by playing in the IPL. It sounds simple but old habits die hard.

    Issues are still to be decided on the selection front.

    The new regime, above all, are fortunate enough to have inherited such a talented crop of players. No team has scored more ODI sixes than England’s 244 since the 2015 World Cup. In the meantime their run-rate is a jaw-dropping 6.27. No other side can boast a figure beyond six per over.

    Much of that lies in their incredible batting depth. Got rid of the openers? Here comes captain Eoin Morgan and Mr Consistent Joe Root. Dismissed those two? Well done, but IPL stars Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler are now at the crease. Moeen Ali, who hit 77 not out in the first ODI victory against South Africa, is waiting just around the corner while Adil Rashid, Woakes and Liam Plunkett have all hit ODI half-centuries.

    Their bowling does not match their batting – show me a side whose does – but they can play four frontline pacemen and two spinners in Rashid and Moeen, without sacrificing either side of the game, thanks to all-rounders Stokes and Woakes.

    They are not without their weaknesses. Jason Roy has failed to pass 20 runs in his last six innings and Buttler’s form is not that much better. Mark Wood, a seamer who can reach 90mph, is a wonderful option but there are longstanding concerns over his ankle.

    Their third ODI defeat to South Africa, in which they slumped to a worst-ever 20-6 inside five overs, was a concern but no alarm bells were pressed. They had already wrapped up a series victory over the No.1 ranked side in the world and Bayliss remarked that the problems stemmed from his side being too ‘tentative’.

    For so long the court jesters, England are now the great entertainers. Win or lose – no one is laughing at them now.

    The spotlight is on these men for England.

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