Title defence in tatters
\nLUCKNOW
\nEngland captain Jos Buttler has pretty much accepted their 50-overs World Cup title defence is over but wants the team to give their best in the remaining group matches to make the cut for the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
\nThe 2019 champions stay roo\u00adted to the bottom of the 10-team table after succumbing to their fifth defeat in six matches against hosts India on Sunday.
\nEngland restricted the tournament hosts to a modest 229-9 but imploded in their chase and were all out for 129 inside 35 overs in yet another batting capitulation.
\n\u201cVery disappointing,\u201d Butter said after the 100-run thrashing left them with only mathematical chances of making the last four. \u201cAt the halfway stage chasing 230, we fancied ourselves. But it\u2019s the same old story.\u201d
\nEngland face Australia, the Nether\u00adlands and Pakistan in their remaining matches and only a top-eight finish would guarantee them a place in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we are aware of that and absolutely, we\u2019ve still got lots to play for,\u201d Buttler said.<\/p>\n
The stumper-batsman was pleased with their bowling and fielding and lamented how poor batting let them down again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were excellent in the field. We made a great start in the powerplay. Players found some movement, bit of indifferent bounce and the ground fielding has been as good as it\u2019s been. So it felt like today was the day it turned around. But the way we batted didn\u2019t back that up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to explain England\u2019s underwhelming performance in the tournament, Buttler said, \u201cAnswers on a postcard. There\u2019s some top players in there and we were a long way short of their best.\u201d<\/p>\n
England coach Matthew Mott, meanwhile, said that the team remained an \u201cincredibly tight-knit unit\u201d, his claims coming after former England captain Eoin Morgan insisted that there were splits in the camp which were causing the champions to under-perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that at all. I think anyone that\u2019s inside our tent at the moment would say that despite our results, we\u2019re an incredibly tight-knit unit,\u201d Mott said. \u201cI can only say from my opinion the group\u2019s been incredibly strong in that part. If you see our training sessions, they\u2019re full of fun. People are putting their arm around each other, trying to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mott added that England got to know about the Champions Trophy qualification scenario only \u201cabout an hour and a half ago\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, the ICC do change the rules quite a bit with qualification and to be honest I don\u2019t think it would affect in any way the way we\u2019ve played in this tournament so it\u2019s not a big deal,\u201d said Mott.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Title defence in tatters LUCKNOW England captain Jos Buttler has pretty much accepted their 50-overs World Cup title defence is over but wants the team to give their best in the remaining group matches to make the cut for the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan. The 2019 champions stay roo\u00adted to the bottom of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-365360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n