The defending World Cup holders England start their defence against New Zealand in the first game of the World Cup. These teams played in an epic World Cup Final in 2019 with the results being decided by boundary countback. Of the players that played in that final, seven of them are in the squad for this year’s World Cup. Get the inside scoop on England's Cricket Squad for the upcoming GameDay Squad competition with an in-depth analysis and preview. Find out who to watch out for!
Squad
Adil Rashid – Bowler
Angus Atkinson – Bowler
Ben Stokes – All-rounder
Chris Woakes – All-rounder
David Willey – All-rounder
Dawid Malan – Batter
Harry Brook – Batter
Joe Root – Batter
Jonny Bairstow – Wicket Keeper
Jos Buttler – Wicket Keeper
Liam Livingstone – All-rounder
Mark Wood – Bowler
Moeen Ali – All-rounder
Reece Topley – Bowler
Sam Curran – All-rounder
Batters
After looking at the recent form for all the England players with a batter position designation, only Dawid Malan shows any form from a fantasy perspective. When applying the GDS scoring to their stats over the last ten games played, I’ve come up with the following fantasy point averages for the batters.
Joe Root – 27 points
Dawid Malan – 77 points
Harry Brook – 26 points
Malan has been England’s in form batsman over the last year. Over his last 10 ODIs he’s scored three 100s, three 50s and four scores of less than 12. The four innings where he scored 12 or less do concern me but when you compare his recent form to the form of Root and Brook, it’s light and day between Malan and the other two.
Bowlers
England go into the tournament with four players with a bowler position designation in GDS. They are Angus Atkinson (3 ODIs), Reece Topley (26 ODIs), Mark Wood (59 ODIs) and Adil Rashid (126). When applying the GDS scoring to their stats over the last ten games played, I’ve come up with the following fantasy point averages for the bowlers.
Angus Atkinson – 23 points
Reece Topley – 66 points
Mark Wood – 62 points
Adil Rashid – 77 points
Looking at these averages, it’s a coin flip decision on who to start between Topley and Wood when England play on a seamer friendly track. I’m leaning towards Topley as my top seamer as Atkinson has limited experience at the ODI level and Wood has only played 10 ODIs since July 2019. Topley has played in 10 ODIs over the last 14 months and has picked up 16 wickets during this period. In England’s recent ODI series against New Zealand, Topley played in all the ODIs, and it looks like he might be England’s #11 for the World Cup. The only thing that does concern me slightly is that he hasn’t bowled the full 10 overs in any of his last 10 ODIs. With a number of pitches in India favouring spinners, Topley may continue the trend of not bowling the full 10 overs. When England play on a spinner friendly track, Rashid is easily the number one bowler for England.
All-rounders
England have great depth at the all-rounder position and are coming into the tournament with six players that have the all-rounder position designation in GDS. They have Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes, Sam Curran and David Willey that are all pace bowling all-rounders. Their spin bowling all-rounders are Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone. When applying the GDS scoring to their stats over the last ten games played, I’ve come up with the following fantasy point averages for the all-rounders.
Chris Woakes – 85 points
Ben Stokes – 47 points
Moeen Ali – 75 points
Sam Curran – 75 points
David Willey – 66 points
Liam Livingstone – 60 points
To be honest, I like a lot of the England all-rounders and I don’t have a standalone number one. It really depends on where they are playing, who their opposition is and the pitch conditions. If it looks like it will be a pitch for the seamers, Woakes would be my top all-rounder and Curran a close second. I have Woakes as the better bowler and Curran as the better batter in fantasy terms. Both these players are likely to sit anywhere from seventh to ninth in the batting order. When it comes to batting in the lower mid-order, spending time out in the middle is never a sure thing and therefore I favour the better bowler when comparing these two players. If it looks like it’s a pitch that will aid the spinners, Ali would be my top all-rounder. In fantasy terms, Ali is a better bowler than Livingstone and Livingstone is a better batter than Ali. I’ll favour the better bowler as the same reasoning applies when comparing Ali and Livingstone as it did with Woakes and Curran.
Wicket Keeper
Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow are the two England players that have a wicket keeper position designation in GDS. On the field Buttler is the keeper and this makes him the clear number one. When applying the GDS scoring to their stats over the last ten games played, I’ve come up with the following fantasy point averages for the wicket keepers.
Jonny Bairstow – 32 points
Jos Butler – 85 points
I’m predicting that Buttler will be batting a five and will likely spend time out in the middle in most of the games. If you have Bairstow card it may come in handy if Buttler was to miss a game. Until then, he isn’t an option if you hold both of their cards.
Predicted Starting XI
1. Bairstow
2. Malan
3. Root
4. Stokes / Brook
5. Buttler
6. Livingstone
7. Ali
8. Curran / Woakes / Rashid
9. Curran / Woakes / Rashid
10. Wood
11. Topley