Wretched England on brink of Cricket World Cup exit after humiliating defeat to South Africa
MUMBAI — England have been in denial all week about their dire start to this World Cup but it’s about time somebody in their camp initiated an intervention because they have a problem – chiefly that the oldest team at this tournament are no longer the force they once were.
The opposition are allowed to play well. You can’t win every game at a World Cup. It’s not time to panic. These are just some of the platitudes and excuses England have trotted out during a wretched three weeks in India.
Yet after the defending champions were spectacularly defrocked by South Africa in Mumbai by a record margin, the time for excuses is over. Now real accountability needs to be taken by coach Matthew Mott, captain Jos Buttler and a group of players who are a shadow of the team that had dominated white-ball cricket for the past eight years or so.
Wholesale changes need to be made after this grim, painful and frankly embarrassing capitulation.
Rip it up and start again when this nightmare campaign is over – and it’s pretty much done now in terms of qualifying for the latter stages – because this shambles is even worse than the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the nadir that sparked wholesale change in mindset and personnel and led to England’s white-ball revolution under former captain Eoin Morgan.
Match in 30 seconds
England’s World Cup hopes were obliterated following a 229-run hammering by a rampant South Africa in Mumbai.
Set 400 to win, Jos Buttler’s defending champions were hustled out for 170 during a performance that ranks as one of their worst ever in this format.
Having lost their entire top six inside the first 12 overs and nobody in the top eight made 20. England were finally put out of their misery in the 22nd over – and that was only because of a 69-run ninth-wicket stand in 31 balls between Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson.
This is how England used to bully opposition teams. But they no longer can be rated as one of the world’s best. The two previous defeats by New Zealand and Afghanistan were bad. But this was worse – ineptitude of the highest order.
Buttler’s men made the perfect start when Reece Topley dismissed Quinton De Kock with the second ball of the match. But it rapidly descended downhill from there as South Africa smashed a record total against England. It was powered by a 61-ball century from Heinrich Klaasen and half-centuries from Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen and Marco Jansen.
In all, England haemorrhaged 143 runs from the final 10 overs. To top it off Topley sustained a finger injury, Adil Rashid was off the field for long periods with illness and David Willey also went off with cramp.
You don’t turn into a bad team overnight – another favourite cliché over this past week – but the truth is that this is a process that’s taken four years.
The three changes England made for this must-win match meant they had used every member of their squad four games in. Every combination has proven a dud – this battle-weary, beaten group surveying the wreckage of a campaign that has now seen them lose three of their first four matches.
New Zealand on opening night was bad. Afghanistan last weekend took it up another notch. But this performance topped the lot – England crushed under the weight of South African runs after they conceded their highest-ever total in 52 years of ODI cricket – a period that has seen them play 789 matches. This was also their heaviest defeat in ODIs in terms of runs – the margin here a shocking 229.
They are not technically out of this tournament just yet – the six victories they need to guarantee their place in the semi-finals are possible, in theory, if they win every remaining group match.
But based on what we’ve seen thus far in the tournament, this is a collective who would struggle to beat an egg at the moment. England could mathematically be put out of their misery as early as next Sunday, when they take on hosts India in Lucknow. But there are still three games to go after that – meaning this could be a long, slow death for a team who look a shadow of the side who memorably won this tournament on home soil four years ago.
Given the nature of this annihilation, it almost seems cruel to force England to play those final five games.
Their net run rate, the decider when teams are locked on points in the table, has taken an absolute pasting given how cavernous the margin of defeat was.
At times like this it is tempting to ask what went wrong, but it would be more pertinent to ask what went right. Not much after Buttler won the toss and chose to bowl first. Reece Topley did dismiss Quinton De Kock second ball but thereafter this was a bowling performance that unravelled spectacularly. Things were not helped by an illness that kept Adil Rashid off the field and a finger injury to Topley that could yet end his World Cup.
Topley bravely came back on to bowl in the 35th over following the blow to his left index finger fielding off his own bowling in the seventh over. He did take two wickets in his first two overs back to reduce South Africa to 243 for five in the 37th over.
The only problem was Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen, who in 66 minutes of mayhem put on 151 for the sixth wicket.
Klaasen was all class. But England’s bowling was dire, with 143 runs conceded from the final 10 overs.
Mark Wood, 76 runs conceded from seven overs, can be added to the list of bowlers who are simply unselectable now – joining the dropped Chris Woakes and Sam Curran here.
But the batting was even worse, the double world champions limping to 68 for six in the 12th over – and their entire top six back in the changing room. Not even Ben Stokes, back after missing the first three games with a hip injury, could rescue his team from this dire situation.
Buttler’s call to field first in strength-sapping heat and humidity was calamitous. England looked cooked well before the 40-over mark of South Africa’s innings.
That defensive call epitomised his passive captaincy. For a man who preaches aggression it is unforgivable. His tenure will surely be over after this tournament.
England have lost their way badly. This isn’t the end of their World Cup but this sure feels like the end of an era.
Play of the day
Marco Jansen’s huge six off Reece Topley in the 49th over that brought up his 150-run stand with Heinrich Klaasen in 66 minutes and just 76 balls. Topley conceded 26 from the over.
Player of the day: Heinrich Klaasen
South Africa’s rampant run rate looked to have been checked when they were reduced to 243 for five in the 37th over but Klaasen broke the shackles during a masterful 61-ball hundred as he destroyed England’s attack.
Stat of the day
South Africa 399 for seven was the highest total England have ever conceded in a one-day international.
