At their best, England are unstoppable. But they have hardly got started across their first three games of this World Cup: in their defeats to New Zealand and Afghanistan, they started their batting innings in a different gear to their opponents, and never really recovered.
On the tournament's opening day in Ahmedabad, Jonny Bairstow hit the second ball he faced for six, flicking Trent Boult over square leg for six as he took 12 runs off the game's opening over. But England managed only 51 for 1 after 10 overs, then leaked runs with the new ball as New Zealand raced to 81 for 1 at the equivalent stage.
And on Sunday evening in Delhi, the contrast was almost as stark. Rahmanullah Gurbaz got Afghanistan off to a fast start, taking down Chris Woakes and Sam Curran as they reached 79 without losing a wicket off the first 10 overs. With the new ball swinging under lights, England made only 52 for 2 in the initial powerplay, losing Bairstow and Joe Root early.
England started well in their other game, a comfortable victory over Bangladesh in Dharamshala, and effectively had the points wrapped by the end of their bowling powerplay. Reece Topley took three wickets in the first 10 overs to leave Bangladesh 57 for 4; Bairstow and Dawid Malan had batted through unscathed, adding 61.
Matthew Mott, their head coach, has diagnosed their starts as a major issue. "We win these games in the first 15 overs with bat and ball, and we haven't done that well," he said. "We've always been on the back foot, trying to pull things back. What we need to do is dominate those 15 overs, whether we bat first or bowl first in the next game."
England's biggest issue is that with the ball, they have been by far the most expensive team in the initial powerplay, leaking 7.23 runs per over. While Mott backed Woakes during his media briefing on Tuesday, they will surely consider bringing David Willey into the side against South Africa on Saturday.
But with the bat, England have tried to strike a balance between positivity and permanence in the first 10 overs. As of Wednesday morning, they ranked fourth out of 10 teams at the World Cup for both scoring rate (5.46 per over) and batting average (54.66) in the initial powerplay.