Jos Buttler accepted his future as England captain was out of his hands after another heavy defeat sent his side tumbling towards the World Cup exit door, labelling it “a huge low point”.
In a must-win matchup against Sri Lanka in Bangalore, the holders put in arguably their worst performance of a campaign littered with lows, losing by eight wickets after being bowled out for 156 in just 33.2 overs.
The thrashing, off the back of equally embarrassing defeats to New Zealand, Afghanistan and South Africa, leaves Buttler’s team ninth in the standings and requiring “a few miracles” in order to qualify for the semi-finals, according to the captain.
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Highlights as England sit on brink of World Cup exit after Sri Lanka cruise to eight-wicket victory in Bangalore.
Admitting his team’s chances were likely over, Buttler said: “It certainly looks that way and that’s incredibly disappointing. It would need a few miracles..
Sunday 29th October 8:00am
“You get on the plane with high hopes and a lot of confidence and belief that we can challenge for the title, so to be sat here now with the three weeks we’ve had is a shock to everyone.
“I’ll walk back in the dressing room after this, look at the players sat there and think ‘how have we found ourselves in this position with the talent and the skill that’s in the room?’
“But it is the position we’re in, it’s the reality of what’s happened over the last three weeks and that’s a huge low point.”
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Nasser Hussain believes blaming England’s cricket structure is a “lame” excuse for the holders’ poor performance at the World Cup
Buttler can’t pinpoint England’s struggles: ‘No clear answer’
Pressed on his own status in charge of the side, Buttler indicated a desire to continue in the role but a realisation that the decision may not be his to make.
Buttler is relatively new in the role, having taken on the job after Eoin Morgan’s retirement last summer, plus he has the credit of a T20 World Cup win in the bank from last year. Also, as of yet, there has been no indication that managing director of the men’s cricket, Rob Key, would look to make a change.
“I think you’re always questioning as captain how you can get the best out of players, how you can get the team moving in the right direction,” Buttler admitted.
“I certainly have a lot of confidence and belief in myself as a leader and captain and, first and foremost, as a player, but if you’re asking if I should still be captaining the team, that’s a question for the guys above me.
“The tournament’s gone nowhere near the way we wanted it to… that much is obvious. As a leader, you want to lead through your own performance and I’ve not been able to do that.”
England captain Jos Buttler has scored just 95 runs at an average of 19 at the World Cup so far
Asked if he could put his finger on why his team, the current holders of the 50-over and T20 World Cups, have so badly under-performed, Buttler told Sky Sports: “That’s the question we’ve been trying to answer. There is no clear answer at the moment.
“If there was one golden nugget that we were obviously not doing then we would try to pick that up.
“I can’t fault the guys’ efforts, we’re just playing a long way short of our best.”
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Michael Atherton is puzzled as to why England have failed to perform at the Cricket World Cup in India and suggests that every player has lost faith in themselves.
He added: “There’s a lot of really experienced, tough, confident cricketers in the room who have been through a lot. You don’t become a bad player or a bad team overnight – that’s the biggest frustration.
“Selection is something you’d like to be consistent with. But that’s not our problem at the moment. Performances as individuals, and as a team – whoever has been on the field during this tournament – has been short of what we set ourselves.”
Mott: Everyone in England dressing room ‘hurting’
England men’s white-ball coach Matthew Mott was similarly lost as to reasons behind England’s struggles in India. Now needing to win all of their final four games – which includes fixtures against the unbeaten hosts, as well as bitter rivals Australia – and hope that other results work in their favour, he admitted their race was likely run.
“I think so,” Mott said. “Mathematically, we’d have to have a lot of things go our way.
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England white-ball head coach Matthew Mott insists team selection is not the reason his side slipped to a damaging eight-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka
“Coming into this match, we knew it was do or die… we have unfortunately saved our worst form from when we needed it the most.
“It’s going to be a very sombre dressing room. We came here full of hope, hoping to turn things around, and we were well off the mark.
“Everyone in there feels like they’ve they’ve let a lot of people down, in terms of the supporters, friends and family, and everyone who’s in that room is is really hurting.
“It’s going to be a real test of character to get through the next few weeks and make sure that we can salvage something out of this campaign.
“We’ll keep fronting up we’ll keep treating each each game in isolation… but realistically we’re in a bit of trouble.”
What’s next?
The Cricket World Cup continues Friday, as Pakistan face South Africa (9am on Sky Sports Cricket, 9.30am start), before a double-header on Saturday sees Australia take on New Zealand (5.30am on Sky Sports Cricket, 6am start) and the Netherlands play Bangladesh (9am on Sky Sports Mix, 9.30am start).
Friday 27th October 9:00am
England are next in action against hosts India on Sunday (8am on Sky Sports Cricket, 8.30am start), with their qualification hopes in the balance. Sri Lanka are next in action on Monday and can boost their semi-final hopes against Afghanistan (8am on Sky Sports Cricket, 8.30am start). Stream the Cricket World Cup and more top sport with NOW.