England's rout of South Africa fails to mask deeper issues

Team's crushing victory in final ODI match showcased great potential but struggle for series wins continues

- Simon Burnton

There might have been a few sore heads in England's squad on the morning after their epic, extraordinary victory against South Africa in Southampton, if only because of dizziness. On Sunday, after all, what had been down was suddenly up, what was bad became good, what was strong appeared feeble. And so the series ended having only really proved that what fails today can flourish tomorrow, which does not necessarily help with planning for the day after that.

Clearly England have a team with great potential, but across the week it only really shone when their opponents had misplaced both motivation and quality.

Brendon McCullum, the England head coach, described "an oscillating series" that concluded with "an incredible blueprint of what this team's capable of achieving if we can get it right", but if it is hard to argue that scoring 414 before routing your opponents for 72 is anything less than ideal it is also not hugely repeatable.

England are ranked eighth in the format by the International Cricket Council and in 14 bilateral series since the end of 2021 they have won just one against the seven teams currently ranked above them, while being humbled both in the 2023 World Cup and in the Champions Trophy this year. One win, however emphatic, cannot expunge a troubling long-term record.