England look to dodge lightning strike after familiar crumble in opening ODI

At the time and taken in isolation England’s opening ODI against New Zealand on Sunday seemed wild, chaotic, bizarre. As they batted at the start of the game wickets fell to the first ball, the ninth, the 12th, and – except for the period when the brilliant Harry Brook was joined at the crease by Jamie Overton – fairly regularly thereafter. Beyond that pair, the rest of the team scored 25.

But to anyone who witnessed the start of their last series in the format, against South Africa at Headingley last month – when they lost the toss, were put in to bat and rolled for 131 – it was a very familiar kind of freakishness. Indeed in 12 bilateral ODI series since their 2022 T20 World Cup win they have won the first game twice and lost it nine times (one was abandoned) – and in all but one of those defeats they batted first and posted a score that was easily chased down, losing by six wickets, eight wickets, four, seven, eight, four, seven and most recently four. In that time they have also played two global tournaments in the format, and lost their first games in both.

Last month Brendon McCullum produced a curious defence of England’s planned preparation for the Ashes. “I think over the last three years since I’ve been here we’ve won every first Test of every Test series away, following the exact preparation we’re going to follow,” he said. “It doesn’t guarantee us anything, but it’s the familiarity with that preparation which gives us a chance.” If that is his logic, he must now be analysing the way the team prepares for ODI series and working out how to change everything about it.

There are many reasons why England are ranked as low as eighth in the world in the 50-over game – 29 of them to be precise, the total number of matches they have lost during the three years that count towards the ICC’s rankings. It is not only in opening games that they have made a habit of failing. But, slightly more encouragingly, since the 2022 World Cup they are 7-6 up in second games, they seem genuinely buoyed under Brook’s captaincy, and they will go into Wednesday’s match against the Kiwis in Hamilton – with Jofra Archer available for selection after his delayed arrival in New Zealand – hoping lightning will not strike twice.

In the strictly literal sense this is likely to be true: Hamilton is located in one of the small pockets of the country that remained uncovered by the string of severe weather warnings issued by New Zealand’s MetService on Monday, with high winds, heavy rain and snow falls expected when what they called “a significant storm” makes landfall across the next 24 hours. Some regions remain in a state of emergency from the last one, which hit less than a week ago. It has not been ideal cricketing weather, but the hope is that the worst of it should have blown over by Wednesday.

Brook’s takeaway from the first game was that with the bat his side needs to “try to go a little bit harder and knock them off their lengths. That’s something we can take from this game and learn from it.” Which is easy for him to say – it is something he does stunningly well, but the rest of his squad labour under the distinct disadvantage of not being Harry Brook.

In Mount Maunganui however Overton provided an interesting study in this methodology. Having witnessed the complete collapse of England’s top order before coming in at No 8 midway through the 12th over he resolved to bat as Brookishly as possible. He ended up with 46, his highest score in List A cricket.

Jamie Overton on his way to 46, his highest List A score, at Bay Oval. Photograph: Focus Images Ltd/Shutterstock

“It’s just trying to go hard in your own way,” he said. “Brooky obviously moves around in the crease a bit and tries to put the bowler off, and I tried to do that with some success. There were times when I was thinking: ‘What am I doing here? I don’t know what I’m doing.’ I normally don’t move around in the crease, whereas on Sunday I felt like because the wicket was doing a lot [I should] try to move across or step back. It’s one of those which was trial and error. I actually found out it will suit my game going forward. In these games you’ve got to learn what you can, and I feel like I came out with a little more knowledge of my own game.”

In a big defeat this was a small win, and perhaps it reflected a fresh approach to the game, one more focused on protecting and improving himself, after the red-ball retirement Overton announced at the start of last month.

“I feel happy with the decision I made,” Overton said. “My body feels great at the moment. Obviously I’m not going to be involved in the Ashes, the thing you grow up wanting to play. But personally my body is the main thing and it was just trying to do the right thing at the right moment. I made my decision, and I’m very happy with what I’ve done.”