I would not call myself particularly old fashioned in my approach to coaching batting yet I have really enjoyed the purist first week of the ICC Champions Trophy.

We fully expected sides to score 300+ totals in this ICC Event but it has been the way in which the 300+ scores have been compiled which has been so refreshingly "retro".

England have made the biggest shift in batting approach since the last World Cup. They needed to!

As a result, England have passed 300 in five out of their seven ODI innings this current summer, winning all five games in the process.

So how have they set up these fantastic 300+ totals?

See England’s 10 over split table in their 300+ scores this summer. Its interesting reading.

Say No to gun-ho

England have done this by batting with an appropriate tempo in the 1st 10 overs ensuring that they are no more than 1 wicket down at the end of Power Play 1. Their average PP1 score in their last 5 300+ innings is 49/1.

Certainly nothing sensational in the scoring rate by modern day standards, yet a good platform to build upon.

In fact, England only rank 4th in the first 10 overs for run rate since the end of the ICC World Cup in 2015.

Depth matters

England bat deep. In some games down to 10. Mo Ali (seven) and Chris Woakes (eight) are proper batters in their own right. Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett are more than useful batters at any level.

This depth does two things for me.

1. It galvanises confidence within the top order allowing them to bat freely knowing that an early wicket or two would not necessarily be terminal. It also allows the middle order to keep pushing hard from 30 overs onwards.
2. However, for me, the biggest positive is that when you bat deep is that it allows selectors to pick exciting bowlers like Adil Rashid (ICC ODI rank of 20) and Liam Plunkett (ICC ODI rank of 16).

Both lads are wicket takers rather than economical bowlers. England have always struggled to take wickets in the middle overs of games, but they can now select their most potent wicket taking options because they have learnt how to construct ODI innings as a batting unit.

Rashid in particular is able to bowl in his attacking way when bowling first or second knowing that his team mates have already set a daunting target or have the batting personnel to knock off huge ODI totals batting second.

Well set at 40

You will note that England average 97 for 1 in the last 10.

97 is heck of a lot runs in 10 overs. However, the surprising number is in the wicket column!

England are becoming a great finishing side because they understand the concept of taking well-set batters into the 40th over. The difference in last 10 over run rates is massive between teams who consistently take one or two well-set players into the 40th over and those who have two new batters at the crease.

This summer, the likes of Stokes, Morgan and Buttler have been England’s established batters at the crease as they reach 40th over. As a result, they have been able to continue to increase their rate of scoring in the early part of the last 10 rather than having to build an innings gradually from scratch.

India applied the same approach in their recent game against Pakistan. Here are their 10 (8) over splits for their 319 in 48 overs.

India scored 106 runs in their last 48 balls!

This came about because they had two established batters at the crease with 15 runs from 14 balls (Yuvi) and 34 off 45 balls (Virat) as they entered the 40th over.

Both were able to accelerate having already assessed the conditions in the preceding overs.

They then took 7, 9, 8, 12, 5, 17 & 21 off the next 7 overs before Hardik Pandya hit 3 successive maximums in the 48th and last over.

It’s pretty old school, as I say, but downright effective!