England whiteball coach Matthew Mott has challenged the over-50s to be “braver” in their upcoming one-day international series against India after admitting they were “timid” during the recent Twenty20 series. India won the three-match T20 campaign 2-1, but England will be bolstered by Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Test captain Ben Stokes for a three-match ODI game that starts at the Oval on Tuesday. England have won all four of their Tests since a new redball leadership duo of Stokes and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum took the lead, including a seven-wicket victory over India in the Covid-delayed fifth Test last week.
It’s a different story for the cue ball since World Cup captain Eoin Morgan announced his international retirement, with England losing games at Southampton and Edgbaston ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia in October before India snatched a series win with a 17 – run victory over Trent Bridge on Sunday.
“What we were talking about was just being a little bit braver and willing to make some mistakes,” Mott said.
“I think at least we could be accused of being a bit timid with the bat. From a batting perspective there is definitely a real attacking mentality and we’re trying to push the barriers and get some big totals.”
‘Aggressive options’
Mott, who was previously in charge of the all-conquering Australian women’s team, added: “And with the ball it’s more of the same. We’ve talked about being brave with the ball, taking a few aggressive options and then just weathering the storm.” when that is needed.”
Root and Bairstow were in excellent red-ball form in an England Test squad led by the aggressive Stokes, with the pair center stage in a 3-0 whitewash of Test world champions New Zealand and victory over India.
Yorkshire’s batters now average over 100 and Mott is looking forward to working with them this week, as well as fellow World Cup winner Stokes.
“I don’t think they will have to change much in the way they play, but it’s a slightly different format,” Mott said. “After looking from the outside for a while, they are clearly world-class players.”
Mott – who started his reign with a 3-0 ODI series win in the Netherlands, which included England setting a new world record in the 50-over format – also had words of support for Jos Buttler after a difficult few days since he succeeded Morgan as full-time captain of the cue ball.
Questions have been raised as to whether Buttler can lead England in T20 cricket in addition to opening batting and wicket keeping.
promoted
“Whenever you come in to take over the team when you’ve had such a dominant leader for a long time, it’s a real feeling process where you work out how you do things,” Mott said.
“I’m really impressed with how Jos has done that and even more so with the fact that he didn’t really get the points, but still led very well… And when he starts to score points, that conversation dies free off quickly.”
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