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Alastair Cook Grills England For Lack Of Practice After Shameful Defeat To WI

image-lpqyphl5England failed to defend 325 against WI in 1st ODI [AP Photo]

After a disastrous ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, England have embarked on a white-ball tour of the Caribbean, where they clashed against West Indies in the first One-Day International on Sunday.

Despite, putting up 325 runs on the board at Antigua, Jos Buttler and Co. failed to defend their target and handed West Indies a four-wicket victory, and a 1-0 lead. 

Former England captain Alastair Cook after the defeat has urged changes to be made in the tour itineraries, which could help players come out of the ongoing slump. Speaking on TNT Sports, Cook opined that England could not deliver with the ball and that could have been due to a lack of match-practice heading into the tour.  


Here's what Alastair Cook on England's loss

“England were poor with the ball, whether we can put this down to a lack of match practice [is unclear]. No warm-up games, it doesn’t matter how many scenarios you do, a few of the lads were out in Abu Dhabi, they've had some scenario practice but under pressure today, they looked rusty. They were poor with the new ball new ball. In particular Sam Curran, he's normally that banker, the guy under pressure, certainly in T20 cricket he's been so good at the death but he was missing his mark by a long way. 


"I expect England to get better but you can't just keep going into series without match practice. I know the schedule is really hard and other things but something has to give to give the players a better chance to perform straight away."

The Ashes-winning captain further stated that Buttler made a tactical error by finishing spinners — Rehan Ahmed and Liam Livingstone — quota before the death overs. 

England will hope for a turnaround in the second ODI on December 6, which will also be played at the same venue.