England crash out of Cricket World Cup as Australia loss ends dismal defence

04 November 2023 , 17:01

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England slumped to another defeat in India

England’s Cricket World Cup is officially over after slumping to a 33-ryun defeat to Australia in Ahmedabad.

With just one win from their first six group games, Jos Buttler’s side were already left requiring snookers to even reach the knockouts. But any long-winded permutations were put to bed after they were soundly beaten by their old rivals.

Not for the first time in the tournament, England’s bowlers got themselves into a position to win the game, bowling out the Aussies for a manageable 287. However, the batters once again failed to deliver and were finally put out of their misery when Adil Rashid was dismissed by Josh Hazelwood for 20.

Chris Woakes picked up four wickets for England including openers Travis Head and David Warner and talenders Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa. Rashid also performed with the ball, going for just 38 from his 10 overs, picking up two wickets in the process.

But yet again, any hopes of chasing down their opponents were seriously dented before the shine had come off the new ball. Jonny Bairstow was dismissed first ball by Mitchell Starc, before Joe Root went for a scratchy 13 to the same bowler.

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Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes - so often England's saviour - built an impressive partnership to get their side back in the game, only for Malan to fall for 50. Under-fire captain Buttler then came and went for just one, with his position as white ball skipper now seriously under threat.

And when Stokes was out for 64, England's hopes were effectively dashed. Moeen Alli (42) and Chris Woakes offered some resistance, but they were still well short on another dark day for Matthew Mott's squad.

It's all a far cry from the scenes at Lord's four years ago, when England finally got over the line to lift 50 over cricket's biggest prize. The holders travelled to India with similar expectations, if not the same level of consistency that team had.

Jos Buttler's side have won just once all tournament

But their weaknesses, lack of balance in the squad and lack of explosiveness with the bat have been brutally exposed. Another defeat also means England's place in the Champions Trophy is under serious threat, needing to finish in the top eight to secure qualification.

Stokes perhaps put it best before the match with their Ashes rivals, telling reporters their biggest issue in typical Stokes fashion: "I think the problem is that we've been crap.

"To be honest with you, we've been crap. Everything we've tried throughout this World Cup, through trying to put pressure back onto the opposition in a way in which we know, or trying to soak up the pressure in a different way, which we know we've done before and been successful with, it's just not worked.

"We've been nowhere near good enough to be able to compete in a World Cup, which has been incredibly disappointing because we know we're so, so much better than what we've shown out here.

"If we knew what had gone wrong, we would have been able to fix it. But unfortunately, we don't. It's just been one of those tournaments where it's just been a disaster. And there's no point sugarcoating it because it's probably what you're all going to write anyway, and it's true."

England still have two games before they can return to the United Kingdom, firstly against Netherlands and then Pakistan. As for Australia, they took another step to the semi0finals, although remain locked in a battle with New Zealand, Pakistan and Afghanistan for the final two berths.

Ben Husband