Former England batter Mark Butcher has criticised the team's batting approach following a dismal defeat in the first ODI against South Africa.
England knocked over for 131 in first South Africa ODI
In the first of three ODIs on South Africa's tour of England, the visitors elected to bowl first at Headingley, and saw their decision vindicated in some style.
1st ODI, England vs South Africa
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- Ball by ball Over
England openers Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett started briskly, and after 17.1 overs they were sitting relatively comfortably at 102-3. But once Smith flicked Wiaan Mulder to fine leg to depart for 54, England's innings fell apart.
Mulder and Keshav Maharaj ran through the rest of the order to bowl the hosts out for a paltry 131, the last seven wickets going down for just 29. None of the bottom six made it to double figures, and next-highest scorer after Smith was Jos Buttler, with 15. South Africa knocked off the required runs in 20.5 overs, led by Aiden Markram's 86 off 55.
Read more: Sonny Baker's unwanted debut record headlines England's latest ODI horror show
England's showing in the first half of the match (which did not last even 50 overs) once again prompted discussions over their approach to the format, particularly against the backdrop of their dire form in 50-over cricket. Since the end of the 2023 World Cup, they have won just seven of 21 ODIs – only UAE, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have recorded a win/loss ratio below England's 0.5 in this time.
Worst win-loss Ratio in men's ODIs (since November 20, 2023)
| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | W/L Ratio |
| UAE | 16 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0.230 |
| Zimbabwe | 17 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0.272 |
| Bangladesh | 17 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0.416 |
| England | 21 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0.500 |
| Canada | 25 | 8 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0.533 |
Butcher: England's fantastic players played some horrendous shots
“The extraordinary thing, I think, for me, and the worrying thing for me about England's batting in one day international cricket ... is that they do not have a sort of an absorption button,” said former England international Mark Butcher on Sky Sports after the game.
“'You know what, opposition are going all right here at the moment. We got off to a bit of a flyer. The opposition have found something length-wise or whatever that's going to make it a little bit more tricky for us to carry on going at seven or maybe push the scoring rate that little bit higher.
“'Let's just get a little partnership going. Let's go back down to five and a half, go back down to six, play the game the way that it's meant to be played in terms of building that partnership. And then we've got enough players with enough skill and enough power to then make an absolute mess of any batting (bowling) line up when it comes to the last 15 to 20 overs.'
“But before we even got to the 25th over, England were all out. It was done. Yes, South Africa were very good, but they weren't that good. You know what I mean? We weren't playing against Marshall, Holding, Garner, et cetera, et cetera, who blew us away by virtue of unplayable bowling.”
“We played some horrendous shots,” added Butcher. “Got no sort of responsibility being held by any of those fantastic, fantastic players England have in that middle order, to say, you know what, we can just absorb for a little while. Let's get ourselves back in and have a reassessment at some point and put a score on the board that our bowlers have a chance of bowling at. None of those things happen, you lose the game.”
The second ODI in the series is tomorrow (September 4), at Lord's. England will need to hit back not just for this series result, but also to ensure they do not slip further in the ICC team rankings; more poor results could put their hopes of automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup in jeopardy.
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