The only way is up as England seek to reboot their once-glorious white-ball fortunes, but on the evidence of a deeply one-sided first ODI against West Indies, the journey to the 2027 World Cup will be long, arduous and - perhaps most significantly - unfamiliar to a new generation of cricketers whose lack of experience in 50-over cricket was all too plain to see in Antigua.
The format's rhythms weren't quite such a mystery to the man who gunned them down, however. Evin Lewis had been absent from West Indies' ODI plans for more than three years until last weekend, when he announced his second coming with a 61-ball century in Sri Lanka. Now he added a startlingly violent 94 from 69 balls, making light of a two-paced pitch and a stodgy outfield to blaze eight sixes - one for each of the wickets by which his team eventually won. It might even have been nine for nine had he connected properly with the shot that got him out, an inside-out slap to wide long-off, with victory already in the bag.
The result had scarcely been in doubt after Gudakesh Motie's four-wicket haul had wrecked England's hopes of a competitive total, but the only real challenge to West Indies' dominance was the rain, which arrived at the end of the 15th over of their chase to briefly raise the prospect of a very unjust washout. West Indies were 81 for 0 by that point - with Lewis himself on 51 - but after an hour-long delay and the loss of 15 overs and 53 runs from the target, the skies cleared sufficiently for justice to be served on a red-raw England line-up featuring no fewer than four debutants.
The power and poise of the run-chase was at total odds with the tentative fare that had preceded it. Whereas England had had to wait until the 32nd over of their innings before their stand-in captain Liam Livingstone struck the first of their two sixes on the night, Lewis himself outdid that tally four-fold, having waited just 11 deliveries before hoisting the lively pace of John Turner over the ropes at deep backward square.
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