EDGBASTON — Ten years after famously launching their white-ball reset here by scoring 400 for the first time in a one-day international, England return to Birmingham under the fledging captaincy of Harry Brook seeking a similar statement performance.
This three-match ODI series against a weakened West Indies team would normally feel like contextless filler in a summer that will be dominated by the Test series against India and the build-up to this winter’s Ashes in Australia.
Yet there is plenty riding on Thursday’s series opener given it’s Brook’s first game since taking over from Jos Buttler and the dire state of England’s 50-over form.
Things were bad in 2015, when Eoin Morgan’s men were dumped out of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in the first round.
Their first game back at home following that humiliation saw them plunder 408 for nine against New Zealand at Edgbaston after Morgan had urged a younger group of players to embrace an aggressive, freewheeling approach.
It was the first time England had scored 400 in an ODI. In the years that followed, they breached that landmark another four times, including the three highest totals in ODI history.
Gone are the days under Eoin Morgan (Photo: Getty)That red-letter day at Edgbaston also laid the first building block towards the epic World Cup win on home soil in 2019.
Yet from that high point, this current iteration of England’s one-day team is historically one of the worst.
A winless Champions Trophy campaign in Pakistan back in February capped a run of seven successive defeats – England’s worst run in a quarter of a century.
They have also lost 13 of their last 17 ODIs.
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No wonder Buttler, who had succeeded Morgan in 2022, quit in the wake of the humiliating defeat by Afghanistan in Lahore that sealed his team’s Champions Trophy fate three months ago.
These are desperate times. So no surprise England opted for what looks like a desperate measure in naming Jamie Smith as an opener for this series.
The Surrey wicketkeeper-batter is a devastating hitter, as evidenced by his fine start in Test cricket since he made his debut last summer.
Yet backing a player who failed miserably when promoted up the order to No 3 at the Champions Trophy is a huge leap of faith. Perhaps McCullum, who was in the New Zealand team who played at Edgbaston a decade ago, thinks gambling on Smith might be the spark this England group need to catch fire.
Brook revealed discussions about opening with Smith took place between McCullum and senior players at the Champions Trophy. “He actually said it in Pakistan to me – he just had this burning desire Smudge could be an amazing opening batter in one-day cricket,” he said.
Caption: England’s Jamie Smith (left) has been bumped up the order (Photo: PA)“So, we’re giving it a crack. There’s no reason why he can’t go out there and bang it as an opener.”
Smith has never batted higher than three in 50-over cricket and before the failed experiment in Pakistan, with 24 runs in three innings, he had only done it once – for Surrey six years ago.
So shunting him up one place further now is not without risk, especially when logic suggested Buttler might have been the better pick to partner Ben Duckett at the top of the order.
Instead, the former captain will bat at No 5 and retake the gloves for the first time in ODIs since 2023. It means despite being England’s Test wicketkeeper, Smith is not deemed good enough to keep for either his country in white-ball cricket or his county.
Go figure.
Jacob Bethell, one of three players just back from the Indian Premier League alongside Buttler and Will Jacks, returns to the XI.
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But, surprisingly, he is batting down the order at six rather than No 3, where he excelled in his debut Test series against New Zealand last winter and might still find himself batting in Test cricket against India later this summer.
Instead, Joe Root returns to No3 after being shunted one place further down during the winter.
Jacks, who only got back from India late on Tuesday night, takes the all-rounder role at No 7 left free by Liam Livingstone’s axing. Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid and Saqib Mahmood complete the rest of the bowling attack.
Despite seven of the XI for this match being the same as the one that ended the Champions Trophy, there is a very different feel to the team. Time will tell whether that’s a good or bad thing.
Brook, aware his eighth-ranked team need to start winning to guarantee qualification for the next 50-over World Cup in 2027, is at least saying the right things, with “aggression”, “being free” and “banging them into the stands” at the forefront of his messaging.
Backing it up with a statement win in this first ODI would be a good start to the new era.
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