England in a muddle as defeats stack up

England don't really look like Champions Trophy contenders, do they?

Six defeats from seven on their white-ball tour of India (four in the T20 format and two in the 50-over arena) and four successive ODI series losses since the horror show that was their World Cup title defence during a sobering autumn of 2023 make for miserable form.

In every game against India so far England's No 11 has faced a ball, with Jos Buttler's side bowled out five times and been nine down on the other two occasions. That's hardly a recipe for success.

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Sticking specifically with the two ODI losses in Nagpur and Cuttack, England's batters are not kicking on and their bowlers are not taking enough wickets in the middle overs.

With England's Champions Trophy opener against Australia in Lahore a little under two weeks away, everything looks a little flat - and muddled. Take Jacob Bethell's hamstring injury, for example.

Instead of replacing the all-rounder with a like-for-like player for Wednesday's third ODI - someone who can offer a bowling option - they have added out-and-out batter Tom Banton to the squad.

That is meant as no slight on Banton, who is a terrific talent and is coming off a superb ILT20 in the UAE, peeling off 493 runs in 11 innings with two centuries and three fifties.

But England have oodles of right-handers who bat high up the order and give it a whack. What they do not seemingly have is a genuine No 7 who can be as effective with the bat as they can with the ball.

Should England be looking at Curran or Dawson?

When we look at players who could be in that spot at the Champions Trophy - India's Hardik Pandya, South Africa's Marco Jansen, Australia's Glenn Maxwell - England do not really have an equivalent.

Even if Bethell had been fit, his developing left-arm spin is probably not full 10-over material just yet, while Jamie Overton, who fulfilled that berth in the second ODI, can strike a long ball but still looks a place too high in the order.

Banton has not yet officially been named as Bethell's Champions Trophy replacement but would appear in line to make the full squad, leaving Liam Dawson and Sam Curran on the outside - players that could add all-round quality at No 7.

Dawson is a regular fixture on the franchise circuit - he took two wickets in the SA20 final on Saturday - and has 23 fifty-plus scores and 174 wickets in List A cricket, yet he has not played for his country in over two years and looks unlikely to do so again.

Curran's absence, meanwhile, is a peculiar one.

Player of the tournament when England won the T20 World Cup in 2022, he has drifted from importance and now out of the side, with his omission from current squads seemingly down to new coach Brendon McCullum not believing he bowls fast enough.

Curran and fellow left-armer Reece Topley being overlooked means England have a very samey attack of right-arm quicks, while with Bethell now injured, the sole left-handed batter is opener Ben Duckett, so Curran could have been handy on that front, too.

The Surrey man was named MVP at the ILT20 after scoring 387 runs for Desert Vipers at an average of 55.28 and strike-rate of 134.37, efforts he backed up with seven wickets.

Could his bowling variations, including cutters and an excellent bouncer, have boosted England?

They lacked a shot of inspiration from somewhere as India eased to a chase of 305 on Sunday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series, with the hosts' innings underpinned by a glorious 32nd century in the format from skipper Rohit Sharma.

England struggling in middle overs and to push on with bat

In England's defence, they were without Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse due to niggles, and the missing bowlers could have made a difference.

Archer is a threat throughout the innings, while Carse is the closest thing Buttler's charges have had to World Cup winner and middle-overs doyen Liam Plunkett, with his ability to hammer out a length but also deliver subtle changes of pace.

Yet they both played in the series opener, when England took their third wicket in the 16th over but had to wait until the 34th for their fourth as they offered up too many loose and predictable deliveries.

"The bowlers have to somehow build pressure so batters play bad shots and get out," former England wicketkeeper Matt Prior said on TNT Sports, which clearly will not go down as some remarkable piece of analysis but is still absolutely bang on.

England's batters are playing bad shots and getting out, with every member of the top six reaching 26 on Sunday but none of them passing 69. The most frustrating exits were those of Duckett and Joe Root, who holed out in the deep after passing fifty.

"I am not content with getting 65," said Duckett. "But I wouldn't change anything I did. Until I got out I played nicely. [McCullum] will never have a go at me for trying to hit a left-arm spinner for six over midwicket with a shot I play time and again. Stick to the options we practise, there will be no complaints inside the changing room."

Duckett and Phil Salt's opening partnership is working, with the pair putting on 81 from 66 balls at the weekend having combined for 75 from 53 deliveries in the series opener before a daft run out - but that has not been enough.

The two century stands in this series are India's - Rohit and Shubman Gill in Cuttack, after Gill and Axar Patel in Nagpur. They have been match-winning, while Salt and Duckett's alliances have been fun while they lasted but not decisive.

"We have come here for one thing and that is to win the Champions Trophy," added Duckett. "If we lose 3-0 to India, I don't care as long as we beat them in the final of the Champions Trophy.

"It's about peaking at the right time. We've been close against India and been nowhere near our best. We will always take positives."

Duckett is his usual upbeat self, then, but it is becoming hard for supporters to take the positives right now.

England's ICC Champions Trophy fixtures

All times UK and Ireland, all games live on Sky Sports

• Australia: Saturday February 22 (9am) - Lahore, Pakistan
• Afghanistan: Wednesday February 22 (9am) - Lahore, Pakistan
• South Africa: Saturday March 1 (9am) - Karachi, Pakistan

Watch every match from the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy live on Sky Sports between February 19 and March 9 or stream with NOW.