Reflections on England’s dismal campaign in the World Cup certainly didn’t see too many positives taken from the tournament and it’s now a case of reflecting back on what went wrong and how does England recover for future tournaments, writes Merv Colenutt.

Whoever compiled last seasons fixtures, obviously didn’t take into account how the fixtures would affect England’s performances in the World Cup 50 over competition played at the end of the season, as England were defending their World championship status throughout the months of October and November.

County Championship cricket at the start of the season in April and concluded in September, with little or no four day cricket during June/July/August, the biggest prize of all in cricket, the Ashes crammed into the second half of June and into July, T20 played through the Summer months and the biggest tournament of all to those who have their eyes on the money side of things The Hundred played in August.

Four so called major tournaments, yet the biggest prize alongside the Ashes, saw little or no 50 over cricket played in England throughout our summer, yet we were world champions, looking to defend our status as the number one side in the world.

This week the fixtures for 2024 are being released and I feel sure so many true lovers of our premier summer game, will be waiting with bated breath to see if rejoining their counties as members next season will be the dawn of a new era or a thing of the past.

Somerset I feel sure will be watching with great interest along with those cricket lovers, to see if Sunday play is brought back in for the county championship, that was certainly not the case last season and the moans and groans were evident and rightly so, as so many members were deprived of their weekend county championship cricket, for the purist, county championship cricket is their highlight of any season.

Focus again of course will be on the T20 Blast fixtures, nothing wrong with that and with England looking to retain their status as World Champions in 2025, you would imagine they will be far better prepared than they were in the this year’s 50 over competition

You have to question what the Hundred competition actually has achieved, more financial gains for the players, not much else, only to bring money into the hands of the ECB.

Back to the reflections of the failed 50 over World Cup for England, should Jos Buttler remain captain, despite his poor form in the competition, I believe so, I still believe he is a World class player and his form will return, but it’s the other issues that to me are more concerning.

Were the players selected too old, probably not, is there too much cricket being played now, yes without doubt with far too many formats, England spin attack never going to be good enough in India, yet for me the biggest obstacle was the Ashes series where England were simply brilliant over those six weeks, it was a memorable series, but immediately followed by the hundred, oh dear no.

All the best bowlers can play all formats, but not the batters, they had to re-adjust to playing differently in all competitions and unsurprisingly, they all failed in the World Cup, so this week the focus will be on the release of the 2024 fixtures, it’s mind boggling.