England’s loss to the West Indies was their 12th ODI defeat in 18 matches since the start of the 2023 World Cup and gave a brutal reality check to a revamped XI that included four debutants.
On a sticky surface, England were bowled out for 209, before putting up an encouraging but ultimately fruitless display with the ball as Windies opener Evin Lewis let loose for 94 off 69 balls.
“I think it’s certainly not where England cricket is at,” Trescothick said after the match. “Because for a long time we haven’t had our main team in white-ball games. You don’t really know where white-ball cricket is.
“I think with the system we’ve had and the volume of cricket we’ve been trying to play and still looking after the players, I think tomorrow we could put together a team for a World Cup, and it would probably look different to what you had in this series and some of the series we played against Australia.
“So I don’t think you can judge and say, look where white-ball cricket is at the moment. It’s been a difficult period, there’s no doubt about it, but there have been challenges from a lot of different things.”
The current series is missing several players due to the tour being sandwiched by England’s Test tours to Pakistan and New Zealand. But the team chosen for the Australia series was close to full capacity, with Joe Root and Gus Atkinson rested, but other absentees such as Jos Buttler and Mark Wood missing through injury. The same could be said of the previous group that toured the Caribbean last year, when the team chosen was to signal a new era, while the World Cup team was certainly the first. All this along with the uncertainty about the future of Ben Stokes’ white ball.
“It’s probably a better question for the selectors more than anything else. It’s not my decision who goes in,” Trescothick said.
“But I think you can see in the England team’s plan last year, probably, and maybe a little bit further back, how much we want to invest in the next generation.
“Playing against people who have played before would probably go against the mantra of what we’re trying to do right now.”
In England’s innings, five of the top six were caught in the 30-yard circle as the balance between defense and attack eluded them and they were bowled out in 45.1 overs.
“First and foremost, we have to try and get 50 overs,” Trescothick said. “The real skill in white-ball cricket in particular is the pace and the balance between aggression and batting over long periods of time.
“We will always be a team that will try to be aggressive, but the field made it quite difficult to do that.”
This is Trescothick’s final tour at the helm of the white-ball team before Brendon McCullum takes over in January. Put in charge of an exceptionally inexperienced group, one of the biggest challenges, according to Trescothick, has been finding the balance between emphasizing that the opportunity is a “free hit” for England’s youngsters while also instilling a win-first mentality.
“I’m trying to have the right priority right now. I want to win every game and we dictate that in the locker room. But we also want to see some players in the environment before the structure changes and Brendon takes over. Why not give them the opportunity to thrive in this environment?
“That’s how we’re approaching it. The opportunities are there for the boys to come in. We’ve seen four debutants in this game, we’ve got a couple more youngsters in the team who can make their debuts in the next two weeks. [With the opportunity] You will be higher up the ladder than you were six days ago. So go out and show what you can do.”
Trescothick’s role in the white ball organization after January is undecided.
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “We have a plan behind the scenes, but nothing has been confirmed as such.
“I’m not going to say which way everything will sit, because that would probably give too much away, but obviously Brendon will come in and take control of the entire show and then dictate what and where we’re going to be and what it’s going to look like.”
Cameron Ponsonby is a freelance cricket writer based in London. @cameronponsonby
