The emotional departure of Jos Buttler as England captain after another failed campaign in an ICC tournament was difficult to watch.
Here was a world-class cricketer who had fairly recently, in 2022, lifted the T20 world title. And he had also played a significant role in the 2019 ODI World Cup winning run.
But in the last three years, England’s white-ball cricket witnessed such a precipitous decline, heads had to roll. It started with Buttler, but is unlikely to end with him.
The Champions Trophy was a litmus test for Buttler and his team after their horror show in the 2023 ODI World Cup and their failed title defence at last year’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
In the ODI event in India, the then defending champions won just three out of nine matches and were embarrassingly dumped out early in the tournament. They did reach the semi-finals of the last T20 World Cup, but were not convincing.
They had to put up a better show in the Champions Trophy. But three defeats, which included another loss to Afghanistan on the world stage, meant England were never in the running.
England now find themselves at a familiar crossroads in their white-ball cricket, just as they were after their failed 2015 World Cup effort that led to a complete overhaul under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan, and which then resulted a stupendous run.
While the challenge that time was to bring about structure and purpose to their game, the difficulties facing England this time are quite different.
The team has plenty of white-ball specialists who have honed their skills in various tournaments across the world. Many of them have already lifted world titles, some of them more than once. And yet, they are getting outplayed more often than not.
In the preceding ODI series in India, the Englishmen were blanked 0-3. There, opener Ben Duckett had said that it would not matter if England lost the bilateral series, as long as they defeated India in the final of the Champions Trophy. England lost six ODIs in a row and Buttler lost his captaincy.
On paper, it should be easier to reset the system this time as they have abundant talent. But the first step is the most challenging one, and that is a change of mindset.
After 2015, England shifted their focus to white-ball cricket at the expense of Tests, in order to clinch that elusive world title. And now, ever since Brendon McCullum took over their Test team as coach with Ben Stokes as the leader, red-ball cricket is where their priority is.
A top-tier team can’t afford to ignore one part of the game so easily. There is nothing stopping England from being competitive in all formats and then chasing excellence in one. One should never come at the expense of the other. India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa all finds ways to put up a challenge whenever they enter the field, and so should England.
Then there is the issue of personnel management. England had some crucial cogs in their line-up who held things together when the going got tough. The value that Stokes provided with bat, ball, in the field and as a leader was invaluable. Even someone like Liam Plunkett bowling the tough overs in the middle period of a 50-over game was extremely important.
Now, England have a few promising young names thrown in the mix, with the hope that it sticks. This flawed strategy was exposed during the defeat to Afghanistan in Lahore. The Afghans fielded an XI that had players perfectly positioned and with roles that were clearly defined. England had Jamie Smith at number three – a position generally reserved for the best batsman in the side.
Were it not for the exceptional brilliance of Joe Root, a legitimate all-time great, against the Afghans, England would have lost by a much larger margin than the eventual eight runs.
On the bowling front, they had invested heavily in the pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, but the time seems ripe to move on to the next generation of quicks who might not be as explosive but could still get the job done.
After their defeat to South Africa in the last match of their group phase of the ongoing tournament - a comprehensive seven-wicket loss after being dismissed for 179 - coach McCullum said that it is time to move ahead, but with Buttler still playing an important role.
"We still see Jos as obviously a big player within that and he's got a huge role to play," said McCullum, who has now combined his Test role with white-ball duty.
"It will be an exciting time for a new captain to try and put their stamp on it.”
The one good thing is that the only way from here is up. England have lost their last seven ODIs, while winning only 18 of 45 with Buttler as captain.
Harry Brook is the favourite to take over the captaincy. If he does become the skipper, Brook and the leadership group should quickly get back to the basics that saw England become a feared white-ball team home and away.
Identifying players for particular formats, roles and position is crucial for success at the international level. Once they give each format and series the respect it deserves, the results should take care of themselves. England are too talented a side to be so poor for so long.
