England’s Cricket World Cup has completely unravelled

2023-10-26Last Updated: 2023-10-26

161 5 minutes read

England (156 all out) lose to Sri Lanka (160-2) by eight wickets

BANGALORE — Exactly 28 days after landing in India, England’s zombie Cricket World Cup campaign reached a new low as this group of dumb slog millionaires crashed to a desolate eight-wicket defeat by Sri Lanka.

Not even Danny Boyle could have directed a more gruesome plotline for this grotesque charade of a title defence, the faded force of four years ago now forced to lurch around India for the next 16 days fulfilling their remaining four fixtures despite having no chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Their hopes of reaching the last four are not quite mathematically over. They are, if you like, undead.

Yet with India next up in Lucknow on Sunday, the hosts, who have five wins from five, will surely drive the metaphorical stake through English hearts to formalise the end of their reign as world champions.

Indeed, if England’s campaign were a zombie film it would surely be titled Zombieland: Double Crap.

Match in 30 seconds

England were rolled for their lowest-ever total against Sri Lanka at a World Cup after a calamitous batting display that betrayed everything this team have stood for over the past eight years.

Timid, passive and desperate, Jos Buttler’s men collapsed from 45 without loss in the seventh over to 85 for five in the 17th.

Among the dismissals was a horror run out for Joe Root, a muted hack from Jonny Bairstow that saw him pick out mid-on and a wild drive outside off stump that saw Buttler depart for just eight.

In the end, a lone hand of 43 in 73 balls from Ben Stokes was the only real resistance against a Sri Lankan side who performed brilliantly. But not even Stokes could work a miracle this time.

Sri Lanka were briefly given a scare when two wickets from David Willey reduced them to 23 for two in the 6th over of their chase.

But an unbroken 137-run stand between Sadeera Samarawickrama and Pathum Nissanka saw the Sri Lankans chase down their target of 157 in just 25.4 overs.

That is how bad they have been. And the worst thing is that this elongated format that sees all 10 teams play each other means the agony will be prolonged.

It will certainly give plenty of time to rake over the coals of what has gone wrong. That spells bad news for Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott, the white-ball captain and coach respectively, whose positions are bordering on untenable.

What makes this defeat even worse is the fact it was unexpected. It has long been suspected that something was amiss in this England camp and that they were in danger of completely unravelling.

Yet against a Sri Lanka team who are missing three of their best players through injury, some kind of response was expected from a champion team who have dominated white-ball cricket for the best part of eight years.

Instead, we got a surrender that was far worse than what had come before. The loss in the opening game to New Zealand was not unexpected. Afghanistan was a genuine shock but could, if you were being generous, be written off as one of those things. Even the annihilation at the hands of South Africa in Mumbai last Saturday was understandable – Buttler made a boneheaded call to bat first in stultifying conditions and saw his team blown away by one of the best batting line-ups in the world.

This, though, was inexcusable. This was an ageing team waving the white flag and mentally checking out.

Pity the poor fans who have paid thousands to follow England all the way to India to witness this shambles. Yet one Englishman, Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood, will be smiling.

The raw stats of this defeat are truly grim. England’s total of 156 in just 33.2 overs was 26 fewer than Ben Stokes scored in a single innings against New Zealand at The Oval six weeks ago. It was England’s lowest against Sri Lanka at a World Cup and their lowest against anybody at the tournament since they were filleted for 123 by New Zealand at Wellington in 2015.

This was also a fifth successive defeat against Sri Lanka at this tournament and a record-equalling fourth defeat in a single campaign for England – matching their efforts in 1996, 2007 and 2015.

Given there are four games to go, expect that record to be broken. But England can already lay claim to the worst performance by a defending champion ever seen in this tournament. Australia in 1992, who lost three games on their way to a group-stage exit on home soil, were regarded as the limpest reigning champions in this tournament’s history. But Buttler’s boys have them covered.

It is now 16 days since they last won, against Bangladesh, and given India and Australia are up next, they could go almost a month until their next victory. That is assuming they can beat the Netherlands at Pune on 8 November. But we can no longer assume anything about this team. They are in freefall.

So why have England been so bad? Poor preparation, a lack of 50-over cricket both domestically and internationally plus poor calls tactically and in selection explain some things.

But this group are double world champions and won the T20 World Cup a year ago in Australia. Is there something else going on behind the scenes we are not aware of? Did the protracted negotiations over England contracts that were only concluded this week distract the players? Is there something else going on here?

Given the time left in this tournament and the potential for things to get even worse, we’ll probably find out in the coming weeks.