Buttler wants 'complete honesty' from England flops after World Cup horror show
Jos Buttler has called for ‘complete honesty’ from his record-breaking losers after they were marmalised by South Africa in a one-sided horror show in Mumbai.
England’s demise from champs to chumps has been all but completed following a 229-run loss, their heaviest ever in ODI cricket, that leaves them equal bottom of the pile at the tournament. And after three defeats out of four, there can be no hiding place for a team that are simply not as good as they were four years ago, and are not as good as they think they are right now.
Buttler admitted he made the wrong call at the toss to field first in the most uncomfortable conditions for bowling as the heat and humidity left players cramping up and dead on their feet before the innings was over.
The Proteas’ 399-7, the most England have ever leaked, came courtesy of a brutal final 10 overs in which Heinrich Klaasen reached a stunning century and Marco Jansen joined him in clubbing 143 runs in double quick time. In response England’s batting was an exhausted mess. Dismissed for 170, but only because the last wicket added a streaky 70 to reduce the humiliation.
“It is a tough defeat to take,” admitted skipper Buttler. “We had hoped to come and put things right but it didn’t work out that way, it is incredibly disappointing.
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"Physically it was a really demanding innings and it makes you question whether, in those kind of conditions, batting first may have been the right call at the toss.
Jos Buttler talks to bowler Mark Wood during a tough innings in Mumbai (AP)“We need complete honesty. It is obvious that we are not performing at our best and it is my job as captain to work out how we can get back to playing our brand of cricket. Not only that but just play to our potential and get back to our best. It comes down to a lot of effort and things that we need to keep challenging ourselves on.
“There won’t be anyone giving up or having those kinds of thoughts. We have to dust ourselves down, stick our chests out and go again.”
It will take more than a dusting down to get this miserable night out of the system following the similarly embarrassing defeat to Afghanistan a week earlier, especially with Reece Topley's tournament now over with a suspected broken finger from fielding.
They say you don’t become a bad team overnight, but the truth is that this fall from grace has been building over a few years when 50 over cricket has been treated like an annoying little sibling next to the big brothers of Test and T20 cricket, and has been desperately unloved.
Reece Topley took three wickets but suffered a suspected broken finger fielding the ball (AP)In 2015 a similarly dispiriting loss to New Zealand signalled the time for a revolution, and this is a defeat that demands a rethink to England’s approach to 50 over cricket. If the time and effort is not put in to build a team hungry for success, then these are the results.
It was a stinking hot day in Mumbai with the humidity only serving to take the steamy recorded temperature of 36 degrees and add even more discomfort to it.
And after Buttler admitted he had made a mistake in asking his team to field first in the oppressive heat that left David Willey cramping up in agony and other players exhausted, Klaasen explained how he used it to his advantage with England's bowling attack left wide open to an onslaught.
“The heat out there was extreme,” said Klaasen. “It saps all the energy out of you and they were physically struggling and I thought we could break them.”
They did, and then some.
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