Marcus Trescothick has admitted that England’s one-day international team are being hampered by the domestic schedule after they fell to a 2-1 series defeat against West Indies, extending their dire 50-over run to 13 defeats in 20.
The last time that the domestic one-day competition was played between sides at full strength was in 2019. Ever since, the competition has been played during the Hundred. Before the third ODI, Phil Salt said that he would “love something like a domestic 50-over competition. I’d love the opportunity to play in that so you can get the rhythm and it’s not always stop-start”.
Trescothick, who is interim white-ball head coach until Brendon McCullum assumes the role in January, said that the domestic schedule was “not helping” England’s ODI team.
“You’re not getting the volume of games that potentially players would like to get and really build an understanding of the game. But you know why that is. That is the structure that we’re given.
“Of course we want more 50-over cricket somehow. How we do that, that’s not up to me to try to work out.”
The lack of domestic one-day cricket has left England players forced to learn about the format on the international stage. Jordan Cox, England’s No3 against West Indies, had played only four previous professional one-day matches. Dan Mousley, England’s No7, had not played a single one-day game since 2021.
“There’s not a massive amount of experience in this current team right now,” said Trescothick. “Part of the reason for bringing that youth across was to get that experience into them.
“It’s not always going to be easy to keep getting games into them, there’s not a massive amount to play back at home and most of the white-ball cricket played around the world now is T20. That is a challenge and we’re aware of that.
“We know how important Test cricket is in England and having the domestic T20 competition or Hundred competitions we’ve got, they’re vitally important to our game. How we get the balance right is really challenging because the volume of international cricket and everything else that goes around it, that’s not easy to do. For the powers above to try and balance that structure and get that right, it’s something for them to look at, but it’s not going to be easy.”
Adil Rashid, England’s No10 in Barbados, has scored more ODI runs than any other member of the current squad, highlighting the dearth of experience.
England’s next ODI series, the three games in India in February, will see the squad back to full strength. The series is part of England’s build-up for the Champions Trophy, which begins on Feb 19.
While Jofra Archer only took one wicket for 115 runs in the series in the Caribbean, Trescothick said that England were delighted that he was fit to play all three matches.
“We wanted to get him through these three games and look at how he was going. He’s gone really well. So we’re really pleased with the progression that he’s making. They can probably then move it on to the next step, whatever that is, but I think getting through these three games is important.”
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