England have embarrassed at the Cricket World Cup, something must change
Is anyone remotely bothered about England’s Cricket World Cup match on Saturday against Australia? Well, yes. But 99 per cent of those will not be English fans.
Because this one-day World Cup in India, where England have gone in as defending champions and current Twenty20 holders, has been an absolute shambles for Matthew Mott and his side.
Rumours of an “unsettled” dressing room were only fuelled further when 2019 captain Eoin Morgan took a less than stringent standpoint as to whether he’d be interested in a potential vacancy should Mott depart the role.
England poor period
And let’s be clear, there must be some sort of change in and around the England team following such a poor period of performances given the quality of the individuals.
Ben Stokes came out of one-day retirement for this World Cup but hasn’t fired, while England chose to tell some of their players they’d not be getting contracts while they were out in India.
David Willey confirmed his retirement from international cricket after he was not handed a contract, the only member of the side in India not to be given one.
It is a slap in the face for Willey and a call Michael Vaughan described, in terms of how it has been handled, as “disgraceful”.
It’s no wonder Stokes has taken just a one-year offer and more players, such as Jason Roy, are looking to the franchise game and the lucrative contracts those leagues can offer.
Everything about the last couple of weeks has been a mess, and England face the reality of not qualifying for the semi-finals and potentially missing out on qualification for the Champions Trophy – to be held in Pakistan in 2025.
But isn’t that all they deserve? They’ve gotten complacent.
Blaming a lack of 50-over domestic cricket is one way of batting away the criticism but it simply doesn’t wash.
England have been woeful and change is needed. Player, coach or otherwise; something must be done to ensure this does not happen again.