Plenty to ponder for England at the end of a disappointing year - Chris Waters

And for all the promise of ‘Mottball’, with the reign of white-ball coach Matthew Mott enjoying a T20 World Cup triumph early on, England have not won a T20 series either.

In all white-ball cricket they have won 15 matches in 2023 and lost 20.

That is some fall from grace for a side that started the year as double white-ball world champions.

Of course, Bazball has been thrilling, fun and successful.

Prior to Brendon McCullum’s appointment as Test coach last year, England had won just one of 17 Tests. They have since won 13 of 18 and, but for rain in Manchester, would surely have won the Ashes last summer.

But they didn’t.

They paid for a sloppy start, tactics-wise and performance-wise, which saw them lose the first two Tests.

Yes, they came back well with victory at Headingley and, after dominating at Old Trafford, won at the Oval.

But the final result was 2-2 and thus holders Australia retained the urn.

The 50-over World Cup “defence” was pitiful, quite frankly.

Or, as Ben Stokes put it, “cr*p”.

England lost six of their nine games and finished seventh in the 10-strong group, failing to qualify for the knockout stages.

It was like watching someone in a movie falling off a cliff or from the top of a multi-storey car park, with few convincing explanations from the eye-witnesses within the England set-up.

It’ll be alright on the night seemed to be the attitude of the coach and the players - only it wasn’t alright.

And there is no reason to think it will be alright at the T20 World Cup in six months’ time either, when England will have none of the fear factor of 12 months ago.

The so-called rebirth of the side has started with a whimper.

This month’s tour to the West Indies brought a 2-1 defeat in the one-day internationals and a 3-2 reverse in the T20s, England losing the decider both times.

There is little suggestion that Mott is the right man for the job going forward or, indeed, Jos Buttler as the captain.

But with so little time to prepare for that T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA, changes seem unlikely at this late stage.

At any rate, it is incumbent on the players, first and foremost, to step up to the mark, the players who are the ones who have to perform.

Mott is an easy if understandable fall-guy – and Buttler on a hiding to nothing after following Eoin Morgan, England’s greatest white-ball leader.

Much may depend, as ever, on Stokes’s knee and on Jofra Archer’s elbow at next year’s World Cup.

That said, sightings of Archer in an England jersey are perhaps only marginally more frequent than those of Halley’s Comet; indeed, the fast bowler has blazed a similar trail across the cricketing firmament.

Is there any good news?

Well, yes.

Bazball is a lot of fun and thrilling to watch.

It seems reasonable to suppose that refinements to its strategy will bring further rewards.

The five Tests in India early next year will be one devilish assignment, but the Test side, by and large, is in a good place.

England started the Test year with a 1-1 draw in New Zealand and won a one-off Test against Ireland, while those Ashes could still have gone the other way.

On the white-ball front, the emergence of batsman Phil Salt has been pleasing to see.

Back-to-back hundreds in the West Indies were a tribute to his promise and power.

The ongoing excellence of Adil Rashid is another big plus. The Yorkshireman has just gone top of the T20 world bowling rankings – not bad for someone who is nearly 36.

England have talent in abundance across the three formats. They have no divine right, however, in the face of stern competition.

India are top of the rankings in all three formats, with Australia second in Tests and ODIs.

This year has been a wake-up call for England and a reminder that nothing can be taken for granted.

Players and teams need to keep improving to remain at the top.

England are a very good Test team and, although they are unlikely to prevail in India, you cannot completely write them off, a tribute to their strength.

But having gone into 2023 on top of the world in 50-over and T20 cricket, they have to face some harsh truths as we approach the year’s end.

This year, they lost an ODI series in South Africa 2-1; a T20 series in Bangladesh 3-0; they drew a T20 series 2-2 at home to New Zealand, bombed at the World Cup and flopped in the West Indies.

It really hasn’t been great.