XPost: uk.sport.cricket
Combination of team selections, toss decisions and form contributed to England's flop I think.
But choosing to bowl first against SA was the WORST decision Butler made.
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https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/icc-world-cup-2023-eoin-morgan-says-england-flop-unparalleled-1405929
Morgan: England's World Cup flop unparalleled in global sport
"There's something within the team that is definitely unsettled," former captain says
Eoin Morgan has suggested that England's underperformance at the World
Cup in India is unparalleled across sport and that their players are "definitely unsettled" after heavy defeats in four out of their five
group games.
England have not been mathematically eliminated from the tournament -
even defeat in Lucknow on Sunday will not officially knock them out -
but they are unlikely to qualify for the semi-finals even if they put
together an improbable run of form and win all four of their remaining fixtures.
Morgan, who captained them to the 2019 title, said it had been
"unsettling" to watch England's plight over the last three weeks and
that their confidence had taken a beating. He also hinted at wider
issues than simply form, saying: "I think there's something else going
on - there has to be."
And Morgan went as far as to suggest that England's campaign has been
among the worst in sporting history, in the context of the widespread expectation that they would reach the semi-finals. "I've never come
across a sports team that has underperformed like this England team,
given the level of expectation that is on their shoulders," he said on
Sky Sports.
"There's something within the team that is definitely unsettled. The
method which they're trying to use and given the substantial nature in
which they've lost the game[s], it is definitely called into question,
the morale within the changing room and the confidence. It must be at
its lowest that it's been for a considerable period of time now."
Morgan said that it was "an unacceptable excuse" to simply say that
players were all out of form at the same time. "I think there's
something else going on - there has to be," he said. "When you look at
the strength in depth, particularly with the bat, England are as good on
paper as any other side in this tournament, but they haven't yet fired.
"They've made mistakes with selection: they've really struggled to find
a balanced side and one that's effective enough to compete, never mind
win this tournament. It's been unbelievably challenging for Jos and his
team… they have to regain the confidence in the method that they've used
for so long that has made them double world champions."
Marcus Trescothick, England's assistant coach, said that the squad are
"feeling the heat" and "gutted" about their results to date, and
admitted that he has been unable to get his head around their collective failures with the bat. England have lost 47 out of a possible 49 wickets
(Reece Topley was absent hurt against South Africa) and no batter has
made an individual 50 in their last two matches.
"The thing that's baffled me the most is that it's been consistent
across the board," Trescothick said. "Bar the game at Dharamsala, where
we played Bangladesh, where one got a big score [Dawid Malan's 140] and
we got a few other big scores around it, there's just never been the consistency of people getting the runs.
"I think they're trying to understand it… it [their form] has not gone,
it's just hiding in a funny place at the moment. It's not suddenly
disappeared and they're never going to score runs again. They'll rebound
from this and rebound back into form at some point. But it might be, unfortunately, disappointing that it's going to be too late for this competition."
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