Mark Butcher has said England were “horrendous” during their disastrous World Cup loss to Sri Lanka yesterday (October 26) and that Jos Buttler should step aside as 50-over captain at the end of the competition.
England lost to Sri Lanka in Bengaluru by eight wickets, making it their third straight defeat in the tournament. After being bowled out for 156 for choosing to bat first, Sri Lanka chased the target with 25 overs remaining in the innings. This comes after England’s back-to-back losses to Afghanistan and South Africa, with their only win in the tournament so far being a 137-point victory over Bangladesh after losing to New Zealand in the opening match.
Speaking after the defeat, Butcher said on the Wisden Cricket World Cup Daily podcast: I don’t know if I can bear to see the end of arguably the greatest one-day international era in England’s history, or the fact that they still managed to qualify, any longer.
“Probably the worst title defense since Rocky Balboa defended his head against Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies.” At least he got a few punches back…badly. At the end of the day, when you get to be the kind of flyer that you expect, you sit in your armchair and watch the first four or five overs and say, “Okay, let’s go, they bat first, good.” It’s a judgment,” I thought. ” Johnny and Maran stroked it. It seemed like everything was over and things were back to normal.
“Then a big change happened. Angelo Matthews and Spin joined the attack and suddenly England were completely exhausted.”
England’s opener reached 45 in the first six overs of the powerplay, with Matthews bringing back Dawid Malan. He was selected in Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad after Masisha Pathirana missed the rest of the tournament with a shoulder injury. Joe Root was then disastrously dismissed in his 10th over and England fell to 85-5 for him.
“Today was really bad,” Butcher continued. “It really was, and they know it. No one in the crowd can tolerate a player of this quality and experience playing. But it was very, very bad.
“Most of the players feel sorry for them: Jonny Bairstows 34, Malan 36, Root 32, Stokes 32. Livingstone was the youngest in the team at 30. Moeen Ali; 36 years old – this is their last hurray in the white-ball game and a significant number of them will miss out on the T20 World Cup, even if it comes next year.”
Jos Buttler was out eight times in England’s innings. He was appointed England’s white-ball captain in June 2022 and led England to victory in the T20 World Cup later that year. However, after a disappointing campaign in India, Butcher doubted whether he was the right person to lead England into his next four-year cycle.
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“I’m not entirely sure Jos is the right person to replace Eoin (Morgan),” Butcher said. “Again, you might point that out and say, ‘Who else is there’ at this point, but Eoin is an incredibly difficult guy to follow in terms of leadership.” It never occurred to me that it rested particularly firmly on his shoulders. He’s not as bulletproof as Eoin.
“Eoin is never demonstrative and neither is Jos, but Eoin was so unique and determined that we could never let him back down.” After the match, the South African reflected: “I think I made the wrong choice, I think I threw the wrong ball,” he said. He would have said, “No, no, let’s do it again. If I had the chance, I would do it 100 percent the same way.”
“I don’t think he (Buttler) has the same unique vision or the same approach to formats like The Terminator.” That’s not in his personality, and perhaps the captaincy is not his. would be too heavy. I want him to do his best as a hitter. We’ve spoken to a number of England captains about this and it’s certainly the case here.
England’s next challenge after the World Cup is to play a three-match ODI series before a five-match T20I series in the Caribbean. He then does not appear in international white-ball cricket until the start of the English summer and his four-match T20I series against Pakistan.
“The team that played today could have Livingstone, that could be it,” Butcher said of the players he believes will make the West Indies squad. “As far as the team is concerned, Atkinson, Curran, Brooke and Kearse are currently playing, so they will be involved. “There will also be players like Jax, Salt and Crawley, with Crawley being the captain against Ireland. So maybe they would think about it. That’s what I would do if it were me.
“Jos, when this tournament is over, say: “Thank you, your service was excellent, let’s move on.” And if he still wants to remain in the team as a player, perhaps England will say: “: Yes, I’ll always accept it… As a captain this may be the last straw for him, but as a player it may not be. Let’s take a look. ”
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