Why has Englands ODI form dropped so dramatically

It has been no secret to any Cricket lover, that over the last 3/4 years Englands One Day International (ODI) form has been dissappointing to say the least, so with the ICC cricket world cup coming up in February i thought discuss potential reasons as to the slump in form for the English Cricket team.

For any English cricket fan out there, this transition has been hard to take. In 2013 we were ranked 2nd in the world behind India, now in 2015 we are currently 5th. So the big question thats on most of our minds is... What has changed?

Apart from some notable retirements (Graeme Swann, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss), of course the situation with Kevin Pietersen which is in the media headlights at the moment and finally the psychological issues surrounding Jonathon Trott. The English team has remained balanced and has also seen the emergance of players like Joe root, Chris Woakes and Jos Butler all whom will be around the English set up for a long time to come.

So in my eyes this slump in form is justifiable and is only logical, in any team that goes through a transitional period its natural to experience a drop in standard or form using the high profile example of Manchester United. But are the ECB doing the right thing bringing through younger/ inexeperienced players at this time?

Yes for the simple reason that if they dont do it now, then sometime down the line in the future they'll have to do it then, also there might not be an abundance of international standard players readily available. I believe this iniative started with the employment of Peter Moores, however i also believe that this is something his predecesor Ashley Giles tried to implament.

As mentioned, the last year has seen the emergance of home grown talents in the likes of Chris Woakes, James Taylor, Jos Butler, Ben Stokes and Harry Gurney, all of whom have performed consistently to a high standard in county cricket for some years but all have very little experience at International level so it will take them time to adjust to the step up which is international cricket.

It also important to consider the impact that the high profile retiremnts, KP and Trott situations have had on the group dynamics of the ECB as a whole. Ofcourse if you lose your best players your at a disadvantage, but to lose a player of Graeme Swanns calibre and quality in the middle of the ahses series 2013/14 its going to impact the team massivley. Without a shadow of a doubt Graeme has been Englands best cricketer in the last 2-3 years with a bowling average of 27.76 is fantastic given the dimensions of ODI cricket. For the Kevin Pieterson situation i believe this is something that should only stay between those who it involves, due to the impact the media can have on these types of situations, and to come out publicly and criticise fellow players and management is obviously going to impact group dynamics and morale. Trotts situation however is different, i believe he was struck down in the prime of his career with psycholgoical issues to do with stress and although he is slowly rebuilding his career, he'll never be the same again in my opinion. Trotts ODI average was 51.25 in 68 matches, take that out of any team and you'll struggle.

I do believe that good things are on the horizon though and the more this team plays competitve international cricket the better they'll get.

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