Marcus Trescothick has acknowledged that England’s struggling one-day international team must improve their International Cricket Council (ICC) ranking if they are to secure a place at the 2027 World Cup.
Successive defeats to South Africa have placed England 2–0 down in the three-match series, with the final fixture set to take place in Southampton on Sunday. These results have left England in eighth position in the ICC’s 50-over standings.
The decline has marked a sharp contrast to their 2019 campaign, when England were crowned world champions. The drop in form has raised concerns over their automatic qualification for the next World Cup.
South Africa and Zimbabwe, as co-hosts, have already secured qualification, while the next eight places will be determined by the ICC rankings.
Although England have time to distance themselves from Bangladesh and the West Indies, assistant coach Trescothick acknowledged the current trajectory must be halted.
“If you look solely in terms of making sure we qualify for the World Cup, that is the situation we find ourselves in at the moment,” he said on Saturday.
“We're in an interesting position where we need to climb those rankings. Longer term, there's also a bigger picture, and we need to look at being at the top of those rankings and beyond. We want to go and compete in the biggest competitions like we did in 2019.”
The former England opener described recent months as difficult, pointing to the team's efforts to rediscover a successful formula.
“No doubt it's been a challenging period and a sustained amount of time where you're trying to adapt and get back to the formula we want.
“The journey hasn't been easy, of course not, but I definitely feel we're improving and moving in the right direction even though the last two results have been disappointing.”
England have made one change ahead of Sunday’s fixture, with Jamie Overton replacing fellow pace bowler Saqib Mahmood. Overton recently announced his decision to step back from red-ball cricket.
The side’s composition remains otherwise unchanged. Part-time spinners Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell are expected to bowl again despite conceding 112 runs in 10 overs during Thursday’s narrow five-run defeat at Lord’s.
Ben Duckett retains his place at the top of the order, although he has been withdrawn from the upcoming T20 series against South Africa due to fatigue and poor form. The left-hander has one more opportunity to regain rhythm before the Ashes tour of Australia begins in November.
“We need certain players to be firing and Ben is certainly one of those,” Trescothick said.
“At this point in time, this (break) is the best way to maximise performances going forward as we head into a big winter.
“We need the boys firing going into November, December, January. That's not to say things aren't important coming up but sometimes you just have to take your foot off the gas a bit and rejuvenate the mind. Then you can get back on the horse and crack on.”
