3 Reasons Why England Will Not Be Able to Defend the Title in World Cup 2023

image-lmrqs0maJos Buttler might have to sort out a few concerns ahead of World Cup 2023 (Source: Twitter)

The ODI World Cup 2023 is upon the cricketing world. With just about a couple of weeks left before the beginning of the grand event, all the teams are in the final stages of their preparation. At this juncture, the discussions about the World Cup will remain incomplete if the defending champions, England, are not involved in it. 

It would not be a mistake to say that the current cricketing era belongs to England. With two ICC Trophies in the last four years, the game's inventors are dominating the scenario. Even leading to the World Cup 2023, England are one of the prime contenders, and their squad is giving the vibe that they might be able to defend the title. 

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But this article is on a contrary opinion. Here are three reasons why England cannot defend the World Cup title in 2023.


1.Over Dependency on Ben Stokes

The fact that Ben Stokes had to call off his ODI retirement in itself is a big red flag to their World Cup campaign. This marks the lack of confidence, the confusion and the insecurity the England team management has regarding the current crop of players.

We have witnessed how Stokes has delivered time and again for England. Even in their latest silverware campaign, Stokes bailed them out in the summit clash; who can forget the innings from him in the T20 World Cup 2022 final?

The fact that you have to call him back from his retirement proves your lack of confidence in the current crop of players. There is an apparent disbelief in these players that they won't be able to deliver under pressure. This, in turn, will lead to self-doubt in the players, and they will feel underconfident when such situations arise. If Ben Stokes fails to deliver in a crunch situation during the tournament, the English team will be left sinking in the high tide with no straw to catch.


2. Inexperience of Jos Buttler, the captain, in India

Jos Buttler has already given the English team a trophy as the skipper. Doubting his leadership capabilities will be the biggest mistake. But this will be his first campaign to India as the captain of England. And expecting him to be at his best in front of such big crowds and conditions that do not favour the English style of play is too much. 

Yes, Buttler has captained Rajasthan Royals, which might help him in this journey. But leading a franchise and a national team are entirely different ball games. It will be exciting to see how Buttler handles the pressure of playing in India and manages his team in the crunch situations.


3. The over-aggressive style of England's play

There has been a lot of hype around England's approach towards cricket. They have simplified the game, and it just attack the opposition no matter what. Even in the T20 World Cup 2022, England came out with the approach of taking in the bowlers even if wickets kept falling. That worked for them, and they managed to win the trophy, but this must be something other than an everlasting strategy.

Especially when the English middle order will have to play quality spin attacks on Indian wickets, it will be intriguing to see how much success they get. Also, the fact that the other middle-order batters have a pretty ordinary record against spin, barring Joe Root and Ben Stokes, there looms a large enough cloud around England's strategy nowadays.