England captain Jos Buttler won’t fall on his sword despite his team’s disastrous World Cup title defence in India and strangely ended his post-match media conference following the loss to Australia by saying he’s “having a great time”.
He added that he was also frustrated and disappointed but it was an odd remark after he had been asked whether the burden of captaincy was weighing him down as his own form has been as poor as the team.
England, holders of the T20 and ODI World Cup trophies, are in last spot with a 1-6 record and need to beat the Netherlands in Pune on Wednesday to avoid the embarrassment of not qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
They are now not even mathematically a chance of sneaking into the semi-finals after the 33-run defeat to the rejuvenated Australians and while they are no guarantee to beat the Dutch, they will be outsiders in their final group game against Pakistan on Saturday.
Buttler said he was relishing the challenge of leading the English white-ball squads despite calls for him to stand down or be sacked following the ageing team’s dreadful displays in India.
“It’s something I’ve enjoyed that responsibility in T20 cricket and ODI cricket before this tournament,” he said.
“I felt like it’s brought out a lot of really good things in my batting. So, it’s been frustrating I think I can’t quite put a finger on why I’m not playing to the level I expected myself I’ve played a lot of cricket in India and played a lot of IPL cricket here so it’s not as if I don’t know the conditions or the grounds yes you know and as I say as a captain you want to lead from the front.
“So, of all the things that have happened on this trip, I’d say my own form has been my biggest frustration, because you want to lead from the front as a captain.”
Buttler was out to Adam Zampa for one in their failed run-chase against Australia and after scoring 43 in the tournament opener against New Zealand, he has scored 20 or less in six innings.
“I wouldn’t say the belief shaken, more just the frustration grows and adds,” he said.
“I think the belief in my game is as high as it’s ever been really, which means why there’s so much frustration. Coming into the tournament I felt in fantastic form, as good a form as I’ve been in.
“So, to be sat here having had the tournament I’ve had is incredibly frustrating, but it doesn’t shake your belief. If I stop believing in myself, I’ve got to make sure I’m the last one that does that. You guys will give up on me a lot earlier than I’ll give up on myself.”
After a year dominated by debate of the ‘spirit of the game’, stemming from England and Australia’s controversial Ashes series, Mitchell Starc couldn’t resist a cheeky dig at the Poms after the match in Ahmedabad.
“We are going along nicely. They [England would probably claim a moral victory,” Starc laughed in an interview on India’s Star Sports.
“They are the defending champions, we thought they would come aggressively at us.”
Not surprisingly, the UK media didn’t hold back now that England are not only out of contention but staring down the barrel of finishing last.
UK Telegraph chief cricket writer Nick Hoult described it as a “deeply galling experience of being eliminated by their bitter rivals”.
“There can be no talk of moral victories this time, only acceptance of an era coming to a sad end as Australia knocked England out of the World Cup. This once aggressive, dominant batting line-up is cowed and broken,” he wrote.
Adam Zampa celebrates the wicket of Moeen Ali. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
“The coach may pay the price but ultimately the senior players have to take responsibility. Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Jos Buttler contributed 14 runs. Bairstow was out first ball of the innings, strangled down the leg side, a sorry end for a player who has not been able to summon his mongrel spirit. He looks shot.
“How has it come to this? Poorly led and poorly prepared, England thought it would be all right on the night. Instead they bombed and are out of the tournament with two group games to go.”
The Times cricket correspondent Simon Wilde likened their modest improvement in form from their two most recent losses to a dead cat bounce.
“In many ways, this game confirmed just how far England have fallen. In the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup, they sank Australia in a tidal wave of fours and sixes, but here they were subdued, a team shackled by their own inhibitions and Australia’s excellence with the ball,” he wrote.
At The Mail Online, Lawrence Booth said England’s coach Matthew Mott and selectors needed to shoulder plenty of the blame for continually overlooking young power hitter Harry Brook.
“Above all, perhaps, this game confirmed a curious stubbornness in England’s set-up. They have now lost nine of the last 10 ODIs in which they have chased, and they keep refusing to pick Harry Brook.
England have spent much of the last eight years showing the world how to play white-ball cricket. The sadness is that no one in India will miss them when they fly home next weekend.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
I probably been watching Watching Woman’s Mud Wrestling & feel….. they are all born in November :stoked:
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Well the 12th of November is Neil Young’s birthday just by way of mentioning it. But many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, much moonths ago l met a woman born dreizehnter November where we had ‘nication exchange. I don’t remember that it was that violent. She definitely had no mouthguard And the 14th is the birthday of my avatar.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Scorpions work in mysterious ways. I was told that most wear mouth guards when they forticate. Not sure if this is true or an old wise tale :cricket:
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
TT, saw a couple of his works; Sofala 1947 and Aborignal Stockmen on Saturday at the Art Gallery of NSW. Loved them.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
true, but both England and Australia have won both in the past 8 years.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
There's no such a thing as the "perfect coach", just as there's no such thing as the perfect player. Coaches will have various styles and the really good coaches will use styles appropriate to various situations. I think what Langer got wrong was the mood in the change room. Assuming I'm right, that was a mistake on his part. Could he have fixed it - obviously we'll never know but making a mistake does not make him a bad coach, just as making bowling or batting mistakes doesn't make a Cummins or Warner bad cricketers.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
If you are going purely on World Cups (both T20 and ODI)- for consistency it almost has to be NZ. Been in just about every final.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
Do bi-lateral series matter though? We rarely seem to play our strongest side. Going on World Cup performances, Australia and NZ would be the most successful - a win and a semi-final spot for Aust and 2 finals appearances for NZ.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
Fair enough. Cummins can't seem to win, though. You're alluding to him being passive, however much criticism seems to come from him creating cliques and being too active in his leadership, especially off the field; he can't seem to win.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
That's because cricket is an inherently conservative sport that is slowly becoming more progressive (although Lords is still trapped in 1953). Players such as Hayden, Langer etc are from an era where boorish sledging was not only accepted but encouraged (ie: "you're not in the playground now" type bullying). Their outdated methods won't be welcomed with open arms. You did say 'greats', however there are countless examples in sports where the 'greats' did not have the necessary coaching chops and the cool, unassuming 'back pocket' type could turn teams around.
Ben Pobjie
Expert
So say greats if you mean greats. But it’s not particularly telling. They’re Langer’s friends. Langer thinks he was hard done by. His friends take his side. Big whoop. It doesn’t say anything about the current team, just about the fact that friends tend to stick together.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Former greats - McDonald played what 3 tests? And I know everyone is going to say “well that’s 3 more than you champ” which is absolutely fair enough - but it is telling that not one player from our greatest team the early - mid 00s isn’t involved in the set up.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Oh he’s a shocking commentator I’ll agree with you there. Langer was the perfect coach for the time he came in. He is good at cleaning up messes and getting everyone back in line - he’s done it twice now first with WA. Perhaps he is just so intense that teams can only handle him for so long, it’s neither a good nor a bad thing. All I know is every WA player I’ve met absolutely adored him so he can’t have been as bad as you make out.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
I don’t think coaches should do nothing though. The 1980s was an era with captains like Allan Border – he was practically captain/coach back in those days. Cummins isn’t that type of leader, so to have an equally passive coach probably isn’t ideal. I’m not advocating for Langer or Lehmann, I just think I’d prefer someone who is a bit more active in his role – Ponting, Gillespie or Voges probably the three standout candidates for mine. I also definitely think they should split the roles and have a different test coach to white ball coach.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Yeah look he may not have been the right fit anymore for Australia but he certainly isn’t a bad coach - the results he’s had in his career suggest the guy can coach.
Ben Pobjie
Expert
Former players do want to work with this team. The coach of this team is a former player.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Professional sport is a results based business - to judge someone on anything else is bad management. Eddie Jones wasn’t sacked as Rugby coach because he was a bad bloke (he is an idiot but that’s not why he got sacked), he got sacked because he lost a lot of games. I don’t think Jose Mourinho is the nicest guy going round but he sure won a lot - hence he stayed around. You can consider other factors of course - but McDonald needs to be judged on results first and foremost. They are doing enough at present.
Ben Pobjie
Expert
I’d be having a great time too. India is a beautiful country. I say enjoy it.
Tony
Roar Guru
I'm still replaying it
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
I'm not sure that it’s telling no former player wants to work with this team. Maybe because the current team wants to respect but doesn't want to continually encourage the ego of Langer, Hayden and others. Sounds reasonable to me.