At the end of a campaign that started badly and improved only mildly once semi‑final hopes evaporated, Rob Key returned to India to count his weary England players back on to the plane. Before doing so came a dose of honesty about the problems faced.
In fact, the England men’s team director was practically back in his old commentary role at the team hotel in Kolkata, running the rule over the latest omnishambles in his Stan Smith trainers. The difference here being Key’s own work was under the spotlight. But – in contrast to Matthew Mott, who declined the same opportunity the night before – he was at least open enough to flag his own shortcomings and the lessons learned.
Like plenty of the actual commentariat, yours truly included, Key thought that by bringing much of the 2015-2019 band back together England would make the top four before big‑match nous gave them a sniff come the knockouts. When he started the job in April last year it was the Test side that needed urgent work and there was a T20 World Cup to target; the 50‑over side, he and most others thought, was a well‑oiled machine.
Except this was a belief rather than established fact. The post‑Covid schedule squeeze and those two more immediate challenges meant the core seldom played one-day international cricket as one. A degree of caution then set in during the reunion, England losing their aggressive identity as rival teams, inspired by it, overtook a side which had failed to evolve.
“Being completely honest, I made the mistake of thinking that it will be all right when we get there and that’s not been the case,” Key said, the morning after victory against Pakistan at least confirmed a 2025 Champions Trophy spot.
“We made the assumption that even without playing lots of 50‑over cricket, that this is such a good team that it will just slip into old habits and we’ll be able to go out there and win.
“In 2019 our batting was miles ahead of everyone else and the rest of the world was playing catchup. And all that’s happened in the time that we’ve stood still – and actually got more conservative – while everyone else has caught up with the bat. What we needed to do was get out here and understand 50‑over cricket out here better, which we didn’t do.”
The T20 World Cup win in Australia came in part because Key got Mike Hussey to park his Baggy Green and don England kit as a consultant – a vital sounding board on conditions. Among the chief regrets in India was not repeating this with a local expert. Instead, Jos Buttler and Mott overthought things and stared too deeply into irrelevant data, never more so than when electing to bowl first against South Africa in a fierce Mumbai heatwave.
Age being a factor falls apart when considering the semi‑finalists India, New Zealand and Australia similarly hover around the 31 mark. That said, as Key accepted, it was poor that, for all this experience, players still misread in‑game situations. India is a country of wonderful variety, where 240 can sometimes be plenty and 340 sometimes not enough.
Key also acknowledged that a lack of proper warm-up cricket in Asia – something which surely helped Australia and New Zealand – was a factor. The World Cup’s proximity to the English summer and a locked-in future tours programme left precious little space. When one of their two practice games in Guwahati was washed out, the problem was compounded.
In saying all this, Key was essentially protecting Buttler and Mott. With credit in the bank from the T20 World Cup win, and just seven months until that trophy is back up for grabs in the Caribbean and the US, the duo Key put together last year have another chance to prove their chemistry works; that their messaging – something queried by Eoin Morgan and others these past few weeks – is indeed aligned.
Key did push back on central contracts being a distraction, everyone knowing where they stood before takeoff and the delay in announcing them because of the small print of the revised multiyear system. It was quite something to hear David Willey, the one player to miss out, say he wasn’t sure if he wanted to fly on the day of departure. But even after the left‑armer delivered off the bench, Key said he would make the same call again.
While a focus on Bazball might have been one issue it is seemingly now also part of the solution. The Test top three of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope are among those handed the chance to feature in the post-World Cup rebuild in 50-over cricket, starting in the Caribbean next month. It is a tour for blooding new fast bowlers in Josh Tongue and John Turner, furthering Rehan Ahmed’s development, and gleaning information. Recruiting a West Indian consultant for next year is another objective.
Not every player to miss out has had their white-ball career terminated. One curio is Dawid Malan, however. Only just handed a one-year deal, and having been England’s top scorer in this World Cup, the 36-year-old is out of both squads. Key urged Malan to rediscover his T20 form and push for a recall for the title defence, with that deal – in contrast to Willey’s snub – reflecting the fact he started this World Cup a first-choice pick.
No Jonny Bairstow on the other hand reflects his non‑stop schedule since a broken ankle. This is a chance to truly work on his fitness. Bairstow, like Joe Root and Mark Wood, is being primed for the Test series in India early next year, while Ben Stokes faces a quick turnaround before then given his impending knee surgery.
The tour is cricket’s ultimate challenge, expectations for which won’t be nearly so complacent.
