Cricket: Smashed by 229 runs at the hands of South Africa, England's World Cup campaign lies in ruins.
Ahead of the World Cup, in an attempt to downplay the ‘defending champions’ label, England captain Jos Buttler declared: “We’re not defending anything.”Three weeks later, England’s World Cup campaign is on life support. Saturday’s 229-run thrashing against South Africa at Wankhede Stadium was the nation’s heaviest defeat in ODI history, with South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen blasting a 61-ball hundred to steer the Proteas towards 7-399.
England’s performance in India has drawn comparisons to their disastrous 2015 World Cup campaign, which prompted the team’s white-ball revolution. There’s been no sign of the positive, attacking brand of cricket that’s brought the team such success over the past eight years.“England look like a side that has no confidence,” former England captain Michael Atherton said on Sky Sports.
After starting the tournament with four all-rounders — Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes — none of them were selected for last week’s loss to South Africa. To make matters worse, strike bowler Reece Topley, the team’s leading wicket-taker of the tournament, has been ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup after sustaining a broken finger.
England has only played 42 ODIs since their 2019 World Cup triumph. The player who earned the most ODI caps during that period was Jason Roy, who was dropped from the World Cup squad on the eve of the tournament. The problem isn’t going away anytime soon. Courtesy of The Hundred overlapping with England’s domestic one-day cup, the next generation of superstars has hardly played any 50-over cricket this year either.English pundits have been quick to point the finger after Saturday’s defeat, but the harsh truth is 50-over cricket hasn’t been a priority for the ECB over the last four years.
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