England head coach Matthew Mott said that it was very painful after seeing the 100-run loss against India in the 29th match of the ODI World Cup 2023 at Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday. While speaking at the post-match press conference, Mott said that they knew it was going to be hard work today against India. The England head coach said that it was definitely their best bowling and fielding effort in the ongoing tournament.
He added that they went out to bat with a lot of positivity about it being a very achievable total.
“You know haven’t had a chat with the boys yet. Yeah, very painful I think we set out we knew it was going to be hard work today – India on their home patch and to be honest I was really pleased at the halfway mark. I thought it was definitely our best bowling and fielding effort. And we went out to bat with a lot of positivity about it being a very achievable total. There was a lot of dew out there as well. So, I thought, particularly after the start, we got none for 30 that we’re well placed but anytime you lose four for ten you put yourself under pressure and chase and it unravelled again from there unfortunately,” Mott said.
When asked where the English side has gone wrong in the ongoing tournament, Mott said that the latest thing has been their batting.
He added that it’s no secret that they keep getting bowled out before the end of the 50 overs.
“I suppose the latest thing has been our batting, the thing that’s gone wrong. It’s no secret that we keep getting bowled out before we get our full allotment of 50 overs. So that would be a big part of it,” he added.
Mott stated that they never really buy into the defending champions’ thing.
“I never really buy into the defending champions thing; I think everyone starts on the same points and we knew we would have to play out of our skin to qualify for the top four here. There are a lot of good teams here and a lot of teams that play really well in these conditions. So as a team coming over, we started with a lot of optimism, but it hasn’t worked out. As we mentioned before, we’ve got a lot to still play for the end of this tournament,” he concluded.
In the match, England opted to bowl first after winning the toss.
India put 229/9 in their 50 overs. Stars like Virat Kohli (0), Shubman Gill (9) and Shreyas Iyer (4) failed to score. But useful knocks from skipper Rohit Sharma (87 in 101 balls with 10 fours and three sixes), KL Rahul (39 in 58 balls, with three fours) and Suryakumar Yadav (49 in 47 balls, with four boundaries and a six) helped India go beyond the 200-run mark.
David Willey (3/45) was the pick of the bowlers for England. Rashid and Chris Woakes (2/33) took two wickets. Mark Wood got one wicket.
In the run chase of 230, England was never really a threat except for Liam Livingstone (27), the only batter to cross 20 runs. Mohammed Shami (4/22) and Jasprit Bumrah (3/32) demolished the English batting line-up. Kuldeep Yadav (2/24) and Ravindra Jadeja (one wicket) also bowled really well.
Rohit Sharma won the ‘Player of the Match’ for his gusty knock.
With this, India is at the top with six wins in six matches and has 12 points. England is at the bottom with one win and five losses in six matches.
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