Marcus Trescothick admitted England’s next generation are being held back by a lack of 50-over cricket.
England’s young guns were defeated in Barbados as West Indies claimed a 2-1 win in an ODI series where several touring players were familiarising themselves with the format or learning on the job.
With the best young talent hoovered by The Hundred in the last three years, their exposure to List A cricket is diminishing as the One-Day Cup runs concurrently and is, in essence, a secondary tournament.
Jordan Cox had just four List A matches under his belt and Dan Mousley no experience in a one-day game in more than three years before the Caribbean trip while, ahead of the series opener, Adil Rashid, one of the few senior heads in the group, had more ODI caps than his 10 team-mates combined.
Trescothick, England’s interim white-ball head coach, knows the situation is far from ideal, as he said: “There’s not a massive amount of experience in this current team right now.
“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. It’s not helping because 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 to play and we’ll make a fist of it and make it work as much as we can.”
West Indies take victory in the final ODI, and win the series 2-1.
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 7, 2024
Congratulations @windiescricket on the series victory.
🌴 #WIvENG 🏴 | #EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/ZDAodxSFYR
Phil Salt enhanced his reputation with a couple of fifties, including a battling innings in Wednesday’s eight-wicket defeat in Bridgetown, but he had been on a diet of T20 or Hundred matches this year.
The opening batter said ahead of the third ODI he would relish playing in a domestic 50-over competition to find some fluency but Trescothick pointed out it is not that simple.
Asked whether some youngsters could forgo matches in The Hundred to play in the One-Day Cup, Trescothick said: “I’m not going to say against any other competition but of course we want more 50-over cricket somehow.
“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.
“I’m just taking hold of this team for this short period of time. We know who the people are: the board and the managing directors, all these different people, it’s their job to try to work out.”
Cox is set to fly back to the UK on Thursday, missing the T20 series which starts this weekend, in preparation for his involvement in England’s Test tour of New Zealand starting later this month.
Cox, who is set to take the wicketkeeping gloves with Jamie Smith on paternity leave, had a difficult tour with 22 runs in three innings while he is yet to make 20 in five knocks in an England shirt.
Trescothick added: “I’ll have a chat with him before he goes. It will be an exciting time, the next month in New Zealand will be really exciting for him.”
