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Cricket World Cup 2023: What went wrong with favourites England?

Jos Buttler admitted that he and his players have not given a good account of themselves in the tournament so far

Published: Thu 26 Oct 2023, 11:07 PM

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  • Anis Sajan

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England captain Jos Buttler with teammates during the match against Sri Lanka. — PTI

England captain Jos Buttler with teammates during the match against Sri Lanka. — PTI

When the World Cup began, England were one of the big favourites after India to defend their title.

They had a strong team with Ben Stokes too coming out of retirement but have had a poor run in the tournament so far having lost four out of their five games. Add to that their negative run rate which means they are as good as out of the World Cup.


What has gone wrong with a team which were playing such aggressive and fearless cricket? That’s the question every cricket fan must be asking.

They lost their opening game to New Zealand by eight wickets despite scoring 282 and with almost 14 overs to spare.

England came back in the second game thumping Bangladesh by 123 runs but had a setback at Delhi when they were beaten by Afghanistan as their batsmen failed to cope up with the spin trio of Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi.

But their biggest defeat came at the hands of South Africa where their bowlers ended up conceding a mammoth 399, and when chasing at one stage had lost eight wickets for 100 runs. They were finally bowled out for 170 losing by a whopping margin of 229 runs in Mumbai.

On Thursday, when they clashed against Sri Lanka at Bangalore, their batting again folded for just 156 in 33 overs and Sri Lanka cruised to victory in 25 overs almost knocking England out of the World Cup.

When speaking at the post-match presentation, a disappointed Jos Buttler admitted that he and his players have not given a good account of themselves in the tournament so far.

He does not have a clear answer to the problem, but agreed that the team was far from of their best. Buttler took the blame for England’s woes and humbly admitted that he has let the team down badly by not scoring runs as it is the captain’s duty to lead from the front.

He added that you don’t become a bad player or a bad team overnight and said that has been their biggest frustration.

Buttler also said that it was not the team selection but the performance level and that all the players on the field have been short of standards they have set. They have been making the kind of mistakes which is not seen often in an English team and he hopes they can still play for pride for the rest of the tournament and give a better account of themselves during the rest of the tournament.

England might still not be completely out of the World Cup but for a team that has played such fearless cricket over the last eight years it has been hugely disappointing.



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