With just over 12 months to go until the World Cup begins in southern Africa, England are entering the home straight of their preparation.
The first few laps of the journey were run with heavy legs and at the start of 2026 their one-day cricket looked to have hit the wall, but back-to-back wins – becoming the first away team in 12 bilateral series to do so in Sri Lanka and then toppling India at home in midsummer – have put a bounce back in the step.
Harry Brook’s team finish the home season with a three-match series against the Sri Lankans, starting at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, and here Daily Mail Sport looks at five areas they will be looking to exploit in improving their limited-overs prowess further.
Replicating T20 feelgood factor
Brendon McCullum admitted during India’s tour here that the profile of his players made them best suited to the very shortest form of the game, and that their 50-over cricket still needed work.
Indeed, it is impossible to overstate how low England had sunk in recent years.
Harry Brook’s England finish the home season with a three-match series against Sri Lanka
Between the start of their World Cup defence in October 2023 and departing the Champions Trophy in embarrassment 18 months ago, they had won just seven matches and lost 19 – a number no other country could match during that particular period.
Now, they must tap into the positive momentum they have created in rising to No 1 in the world T20 rankings.
Playing of spin
England have struggled to get the right tempo through the middle overs of their innings, with batsmen either trying to hit their way out of trouble or getting stuck at one end.
This is the period in which spin tends to play its biggest role and so McCullum invited Kevin Pietersen, in his new role as white-ball batting consultant, to host a spin masterclass on Monday, on the ground at which he unveiled international cricket’s first switch hit in 2008.
His chat with England’s current vintage was more conventional. ‘A lot of it was about picking the length of spin. I think that’s key to facing spin and being able to rotate strike as much as possible, especially in ODI cricket as that’s an area where we need to improve as a side,’ said England captain Brook.
Prioritising one-day cricket for pacemen
Only once before – in their most recent outing against India at Lord’s – have England fielded Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson, three-quarters of their Test seam unit, in the same ODI XI.
However, it appears to be a pace triumvirate ideally suited to conditions in South Africa and so expect them to be kept together both here this week and in Australia in November.
New batting consultant Kevin Pietersen hosted a spin masterclass on Monday as part of his new role
If they are going to rest from occasional assignments, as McCullum alluded to at the weekend, it will be during T20 series.
‘Yeah, that’s part of the schedule really we have got to prioritise ODI cricket slightly more. That’s not saying we’re not going to try and play our best side in T20s but we think that the ODI format is slightly more important now we’re going into that World Cup next year,’ said Brook.
Deepening players’ experience
Injuries will provide two fringe players with opportunities this week. Tom Banton will become Ben Duckett’s sixth ODI opening partner since the start of last year at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, replacing the injured Jacob Bethell.
All seven of his ODI caps to date have come lower down the order and he has not opened in any 50-over match for more than seven years, but he has shown adaptability in switching roles during England’s halcyon T20 sequence and he has a reputation for dealing adroitly with both short-pitched and spin bowing.
Meanwhile, the injury to Adil Rashid’s bowling hand – he went for a scan on Monday – has reopened the door to fellow wrist spinner Rehan Ahmed, whose last appearance in this format came as a makeshift opener at the turn of the year.
It is approaching four years since Jos Buttler (left) scored the last of his 11 ODI hundreds
Making use of Jos Buttler’s rich vein of form
It has been a case of feast or famine for Buttler in international cricket for some time now, and although he clambered out of a fallow period spanning this year’s Twenty20 World Cup, it has been part of a lengthier malaise.
It is approaching four years since the last of his 11 ODI hundreds and his average of 30.64 in 39 innings since then is significantly down on his career mark of 39. His strike rate is also down to 105.14 from 118.09.
While a ranking of 37th amongst ODI batsmen, behind Scott Edwards, of the Netherlands, and Ireland’s Curtis Campher does not do justice to his generational ball striking ability.
But the presence of the 36-year-old at No 5 in this line-up comes just days after he became the first player to record 15,000 career runs in T20, and the assessment of Brook was: ‘Knowing he’s coming in down the order gives everyone the freedom to go out there and play the game the way you see it.’
