Marcus Trescothick, England’s batting coach, has expressed concerns over the lack of domestic 50-over cricket, which he believes is hindering the development of the team’s young white-ball players.
England’s recent ODI series defeat in Barbados marked their third consecutive loss since the 2023 World Cup, with the team fielding a largely inexperienced lineup due to the overlap with Test commitments. Several key players were absent, including Jordan Cox and Rehan Ahmed, who were the only members of the Pakistan tour group to feature in the Caribbean.
Trescothick emphasized the importance of domestic 50-over cricket in providing players with the necessary experience and understanding of the game. However, he acknowledged the challenges posed by the current structure, which sees the One-Day Cup clashing with the Hundred.
“It’s not helping because you’re not getting the volume of games that players would like to get and really build an understanding of the game,” Trescothick said. “But you kind of know why that is and that is the structure we’re given to play, and we’ll make a fist of it and make it work as much as we can.”
Phil Salt, who scored 74 in the final ODI, echoed Trescothick’s sentiments, calling for more domestic 50-over opportunities. “I don’t think there’s many players in this team that you could go through and go ‘oh they’re doing a great job right now’,” Salt said. “That’s the reality of it because we’ve not played a lot of 50-over cricket.”
Trescothick acknowledged the challenges of finding a balance between Test cricket, domestic T20 competitions, and the Hundred. However, he stressed the need to address the lack of 50-over cricket, which is essential for the development of England’s white-ball players.
“It’s really challenging,” Trescothick said. “We know how important Test cricket is in England and obviously having the domestic T20 competition and the Hundred, that’s vitally important to our game. How do we get that balance right? That’s for the powers above to look at, but it’s not going to be easy.”
Trescothick also provided an update on Jofra Archer, who successfully completed the series without any injury issues. The fast bowler took only one wicket, but Trescothick expressed satisfaction with his performance as England look to build him back to potentially playing Test cricket in the summer.
