Cricket legends Warne, Willis slam England`s `last century` ODI batting tactics of top-order

London: Cricketing legends Shane Warne and Bob Willis have slammed England`s one-day batting, specifically from the top-order, as `belonging to the last century`, following the hosts` seven-wicket hammering by Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy.

According to the Mirror, instead of embracing the no-fear style of Twenty20 and taking advantage of fielding restrictions in the 50-over game from the off, England have gone for caution, which although is an approach to win some games, failed against Thursday`s clash against Sri Lanka. As England prepared for Sunday`s crunch game against New Zealand, Australian spin legend Warne scorned the strategy employed by Alastair Cook`s side in one-day games in Twitter, saying that England`s style of play will never allow them to win a major limited-over tournament. Agreeing with Warne, Willis joined former England Test captain Sir Ian Botham in saying that the batting top-order comprising of Cook, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott are responsible for preventing the team from making a successful run-rate, adding that England does not have a player with the quality of Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara in the one-day XI. According to Willis, unlike Sangakkara, Cook and Trott does not win one-day cricket matches for England on their own as they do not score quickly enough, adding that England`s batsmen are unable to go on and get 130 as they get out when they are on 70, or get a hundred in a losing cause. Stating that Cook and Trott are not capable of batting like their teammate Ravi Bopara, Willis further said that along with Bell, the duo also uses up too many overs, adding that he believes that England relies too heavily on a late slog from the likes of Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler, who, he said, should be given more time to score more runs quickly. ANI