England improving in ODI cricket thanks to Harry Brook, Brendon McCullum and Joe Root with win over India latest high

20.07.2026, 12:05 skysports.com

India found it impossible to dismiss Joe Root across the ODI series as the England batter looted 249 runs without losing his wicket.

Perhaps also impossible to dismiss is Root's notion that England's 50-over team is on the rise. After a painful few years in this format, including an atrocious 2023 World Cup, there are signs of progress.

It is now back-to-back series wins under captain Harry Brook with the success against No 1-ranked side India - sealed with victory in a Lord's run-fest - following a triumph in Sri Lanka in January.

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In both of those 2-1 victories, England have shown character to fight from 1-0 down before coming out on top in deciding fixtures.

The feeling around the ODI team is much more positive than it was back in November, that's for sure.

A 3-0 drubbing in New Zealand, on a tour now better remembered for Brook's scuffle with a nightclub bouncer than England's top order getting blown away, marked a sixth defeat in seven ODI series.

There was not only chat about whether England were set for a second 50-over World Cup of woe in a row when the 2027 edition came around but if they would actually make the tournament at all.

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Languishing eighth in the rankings and with only the top nine, including already-qualified co-hosts South Africa, assured of spots, England knew a continuation of their ODI malaise could result in the indignity of having to enter a qualifying competition.

That fear has now been eased.

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England are starting to look like a fully-functioning side again. Not quite 2019 levels, when they were the best 50-over team on the planet, but one that can compete.

Highs from the win over India included the near 200-run stand between Ben Duckett and new opening partner Jacob Bethell in the winner-takes-all clash at Lord's.

Helped as they were by some wayward India bowling in the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah through injury, Duckett and Bethell found a strong blend of aggression and composure.

Duckett hit 141 - eclipsing Sir Vivian Richards for the highest score in an ODI at Lord's - and after a recent Test ton versus New Zealand now seems back to his best after a torrid Ashes on and off the field.

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Bethell, meanwhile, backed up his knock of 91 with the key wicket of Rohit Sharma in India's excellent but ultimately unsuccessful chase, having been brought into the attack when head coach Brendon McCullum gave Brook a gentle nudge to deploy the left-arm spinner.

The McCullum-Brook relationship (it will be dubbed Baz and Haz at some point no doubt) is working well, with the ODI victory following a 4-0 rout of India in the preceding T20 series that lifted the team top of the world rankings in that format.

Perhaps England would be best served leaving Brook to solely skipper the white-ball teams rather than give him the Test captaincy on top of - or instead of - those gigs?

Root - another candidate to succeed Ben Stokes as Test captain - was the hosts' biggest highlight of the ODI series, showing his ability to innovate, manipulate, accumulate and resuscitate with the bat.

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His 76 not out at Edgbaston gave his side a sniff of victory in the first ODI. His unbeaten 99 won them the second. His 74 not out then played a part in England amassing the highest total in a List A game at Lord's - 387-3 - in the third.

Root's class, however, did show up his team-mates in the opening two matches, with a number of players out to rash shots in Birmingham and then again on a tricky pitch in South Wales. Brook's innings at Sophia Gardens, a run-a-ball 16, was wildly frenetic.

Brook spoke afterwards about how England can learn from Root's rotation of strike and composure and they need to as they build for the World Cup next autumn. You still feel they are vulnerable on surfaces that do a bit, much like the Test team.

Another aspect to completely nail is the make-up of the XI.

England went spin-heavy for the series opener against India, possibly due to the success that approach had achieved in Sri Lanka, with only two out-and-out seamers selected in Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue alongside all-rounder Sam Curran.

Spinner Liam Dawson did score an important half-century, sharing a hundred partnership with Root after England had melted from 61-0 to 107-6, but his inclusion was probably the wrong call with the hosts crying out for an extra paceman.

They rectified that for the final two games with Dawson the fall guy and an additional seamer is probably the way go with the World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia set to be pace dominated.

Archer - who feels he is bowling as consistently as ever, a view that is hard to argue with - and Curran look nailed on to be in the XI.

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Curran has brought a new dimension to the side since his recall last summer and snuffed out India's hopes at Lord's with three wickets in six balls at the death.

His left-arm angle and cunning moon balls have proved a real antidote to the diet of right-arm seam England went in with during their dismal Champions Trophy campaign in early 2025, McCullum's first tournament as white-ball supremo.

Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson, Saqib Mahmood, the fit-again Brydon Carse and, when he is fit again, Jamie Overton are the other pacers pushing for starting spots.

In an ideal world, one of them will become the middle-overs enforcer Liam Plunkett was during the victorious 2019 World Cup campaign.

You also wonder what the future holds for Dawson, who will be getting on for 38 by the time of the 2027 World Cup. Will he make it that far, or will England prioritise pushing younger spin-bowling all-rounders in Rehan Ahmed and James Coles?

England's growth in ODI cricket can be measured again when they host Sri Lanka for three games in September, live on Sky Sports, before visiting Australia in November and then South Africa in January of next year for further three-match contests.

Those will be series England fans now look forward to rather than dread thanks to the Brook, McCullum and Root-inspired upturn.

T20s (England won five-match series 4-0, now top rankings)

ODIs (England won three-match series 2-1)