Anthony McGrath: Tough for players to gain 50-over experience

McGrath believes that there are no easy solutions to a problem which has seen one-day cricket slip down the pecking order following the introduction of The Hundred.

The franchise tournament clashes directly with the 50-over One-Day Cup in August and means that the best players effectively no longer play county one-day cricket, a situation exacerbated by a reduction in one-day cricket per se in the T20 era and other pressures on the schedule, both international and franchise.

“You do feel for the guys a bit because they haven’t experienced playing in it,” said McGrath, after England’s shortcomings were exposed at the Champions Trophy, not least in the batting.

“If that aggressive kind of start to the game goes well then you’re in a good position, but if it doesn’t and you lose those wickets, as we saw against South Africa, it’s difficult because you’re still wanting to score quickly but you’re almost rebuilding as well, so strategically it’s different.

“I guess the question is: how do you fit more domestic 50 overs into our schedule, and the answer is you can’t, can you, under the current guise of how it’s set up.

“We talk between ourselves, as players and coaches, and everyone who loves cricket, but I really don’t know what the answer is.”

When McGrath made his Yorkshire debut 30 years ago this summer, T20 was not around and there were three domestic one-day competitions in which the best players often featured.

The one-day league ran throughout the season, with each county playing 17 matches, and there were two knockout tournaments - the Benson and Hedges Cup (in which counties played up to eight games) and the NatWest Trophy (in which they played up to five).

When McGrath made his one-day international debut in 2003, against Pakistan at Old Trafford, admittedly at the relatively late age of 27, he had already played 153 one-day matches for Yorkshire.

In contrast, Harry Brook and Joe Root had appeared only 15 times for the club in one-day competition before making their own ODI debuts.

The situation, of course, is not just confined to England. The two century-makers against England at the Champions Trophy, for example, Josh Inglis of Australia and Ibrahim Zadran of Afghanistan, also had precious little experience of domestic one-day cricket, highlighting the importance of adaptability between the formats as well as experience.

Inglis had appeared only 19 times for Western Australia in one-dayers before taking England for an unbeaten 120 in the opening fixture, and Zadran only 21 times in Afghan domestic cricket before striking his masterly 177, the highest score in Champions Trophy history.

At the same time, it is commonly held that one does not get better at anything by not doing it, and McGrath is of the belief that although the ball may be of the same colour (white), there is a significant difference between 50-over and T20.

“Domestically our best players don’t play in it (50 overs) because of The Hundred, and I know it’s still white-ball cricket, but they are different games,” he said.

“Throw in red-ball cricket as well, and there are three different games now, there really are.

“I guess the older guys have played a bit more 50-over cricket, and when I started that’s what one-day cricket was, pretty much, whereas now there’s so much T20 played that the 50-overs is a bit of an afterthought, really.

“It’s tough. Before you’d get the experience domestically and then they’d pick the best 50-over team from there as such, but that doesn’t happen now because there’s just no period in the calendar to get the method, the experience, so it’s tough for everyone.”

England’s performance at the Champions Trophy spoke for itself.

It was their third successive poor showing at a global competition, with England the only one of the eight participating nations not to register a single point, a fate spared Pakistan and Bangladesh when their clash in Rawalpindi was washed out.

“It’s always a shorter tournament, the Champions Trophy, so if you lose one you’re under the pump,” said McGrath, who made 14 ODI and four Test appearances.

“It’s one of those where it’s been a little bit disjointed with India playing in Dubai and the different time zones and that type of stuff as well.

“From an England fan’s point of view, it’s just disappointing, I guess, how we’ve performed and not got to the last stages, so it’s a bit of an opportunity missed, but then the other teams have done well and looked really strong.”

Attention has now shifted on to who will replace Jos Buttler as captain, with Yorkshire’s Brook the favourite for the role.

However, there is uncertainty as to whether the white-ball captaincy itself will be split, between one-day and T20, with McGrath having no particular view on what should happen next.

“Obviously, Harry did it a bit in the summer,” he said.

“I haven’t spoken to him about it, to be honest, and it will certainly be interesting to see what England do in that respect.”