Director of cricket Rob Key is ready to take his share of the blame for England’s World Cup downfall, insisting head coach Matthew Mott will be given “first opportunity” to put things right.
Having arrived in India among the favourites, the 2019 champions are set to depart on Sunday among the also-rans, having scrambled to a seventh-placed finish.
With six defeats from nine games, this goes down as the country’s worst ever performance at the event, leaving Mott under pressure after 18 months in the job.
Some read Key’s decision to jet out to Kolkata for the end of the tournament as a bad sign for the Australian, but he and captain Jos Buttler instead received the backing of their boss.
Rather than line either up as a blood sacrifice, Key focused on his own prioritisation of England’s Test fortunes, which have sparked to life under Brendon McCullum’s guidance.
“I look at what I’ve not done rather than blaming everyone else. I hold myself accountable for a lot,” he said.
“Since I’ve started this job, it’s very hard for me to be critical of Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott when I’m the one who, every single time a decision has been made around whether or not we focus on 50-over cricket, Test cricket or T20, I’ve always chosen Test cricket.
“When there was a choice in Pakistan over who got the best players, I’ve always said, ‘sorry, Test cricket gets that focus at the moment’. The same thing in South Africa. I’ve always chosen Test cricket. It’s not easy for coaches and captains when you haven’t got the ability to plan and have your best team.
“That’s not their fault. So I feel like it’s harsh if I turn around and blame the captain and coach. Really, I hold myself at the top of that list for what’s gone wrong on this trip.”
Key’s backing for Mott did come with a gentle reminder that the mandate was not open-ended, with next summer’s T20 World Cup an obvious barometer for improvement.
“As far as I’m concerned he gets my full backing. He’s the person to get the first opportunity to put that right,” said Key.
“But it’s certainly not a case of saying ‘carry on, let’s keep doing everything the same and get the same result’. You’re now the person charged with sorting this out – along with myself, along with Jos, along with everyone else who has any kind of decision-making authority in English cricket. It’s for everyone to be accountable for that.
“It’s pretty simple as a coach, your job is to make sure that every single player is improving and getting better and that’s what we haven’t done. He will accept that.
“I feel this actually should be the making of those two (Mott and Buttler) as a partnership. If it isn’t, it isn’t and you move on but we have to make sure some good comes out of what has been a very poor World Cup.”
Key suggested another decision he had got wrong was in not hiring somebody with greater knowledge of Indian conditions to their backroom team. When England won the T20 World Cup in Australia last year they not only had Mott’s expertise, but two other locals in David Saker and Michael Hussey as coaching consultants.
England have been guilty of picking the wrong teams, failing to judge a par score on particular pitches and made some poor calls at the toss. Most obviously, they opted to field first against South Africa in energy-sapping heat and humidity in Mumbai and were promptly run ragged.
“I set up a coaching team that had no local experience really,” he reflected.
“When you get to somewhere like Mumbai – and it all seems so simple now – you’re worried about dew and all of this other stuff. But someone who knows these conditions really well would say ‘it’s hotter than the sun out there; make sure you have a bat’.
“It was only in the last couple of games, have we actually understood the way that we went about things. We should have known this but we didn’t going into the competition.”
There will be more analysis in the coming days and weeks as England try to come to terms with going from all-conquering champions and 50-over trailblazers to a seventh-placed side feeding on the crumbs of Champions Trophy qualification.
But Ben Stokes may have said it best on the eve of England’s penultimate game against the Netherlands when he summed things by saying ‘the problem is we’ve been crap’.
Key, ultimately, could not put it better himself.
“I would agree,” he concluded.
Brandon King named captain as West Indies squad named for three-match T20I series against South Africa
Brandon King has been appointed captain of the West Indies squad named to face South Africa in the upcoming three T20 International series at Sabina Park in Kingston starting Thursday, May 23. The squad has been gearing up for this exciting and highly anticipated series with a training camp held at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. The selection panel has confirmed that Brandon King will have Roston Chase as his vice captain. Both appointments are on an interim basis.
King was set to lead the West Indies A-Team on the recently concluded T20 tour to Nepal before he was withdrawn due to injury. Chase, appointed instead, went on to lead the A-Team to a series win against Nepal.
The West Indies Men’s squad for the series is as follows: Brandon King (Captain), Roston Chase (Vice-Captain), Fabian Allen, Alick Athanaze, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Matthew Forde, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Obed McCoy, Gudakesh Motie, Romario Shepherd and Hayden Walsh Jr.
Alzarri Joseph and Sherfane Rutherford will be added to the squad if their respective franchises do not reach the Indian Premier League (IPL) Final. Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran are both rested for the series and will join the squad in Trinidad on Monday, 27 May.
“These are among the last competitive T20 International matches before the start of the World Cup,” said lead selector Desmond Haynes. “Players have the opportunity to fine-tune their skills and ensure they are as prepared as they can be for the World Cup, whether they are in the final squad or reserve pool.”
White Ball Head Coach Daren Sammy also commented on his objectives for this series stating, “We have not played together as a team since the Australia series, but we just completed a very high-intensity training camp in Antigua. Now we have the chance to integrate some of our players returning from the IPL and build some momentum as a group going into the World Cup.”
Tickets for the T20I Series against South Africa at Sabina Park, Jamaica are available now to buy online from the Windies Tickets service, at WINDIES TICKET PORTAL. Fans who purchase online will benefit from a 20 per cent discount compared to the box office prices, with tickets ranging from the most premium seats with the best-shaded views in the stadium through to affordable standard seats or mounds/grounds entry.
Match schedule:
- 23 May 1st T20I West Indies v South Africa at Sabina Park, Jamaica 2:00 pm JT/3:00 pm ECT
- 25 May 2nd T20I West Indies v South Africa at Sabina Park, Jamaica 2:00 pm JT/3:00 pm ECT
- 26 May 3rd T20I West Indies v South Africa at Sabina Park, Jamaica 2:00 pm JT/3:00 pm ECT
West Indies won the last T20 International played at Sabina Park against New Zealand in August 2022, which was the last time international cricket was played at this historic venue.
IPL: Royals miss top-two chance after washout against leaders KKR
Rajasthan Royals were denied their shot at a top-two Indian Premier League finish after rain saw a clash with Kolkata Knight Riders abandoned without a ball bowled on Sunday.
The Royals finished third in the group stage of this year's IPL after four straight losses preceded the washout in Guwahati.
In-form Royal Challengers Bengaluru awaits in the Eliminator for Rajasthan on May 22, with the former on a six-match winning streak to reach the playoffs.
Pat Cummins' Sunrisers Hyderabad will face leaders Kolkata, whose last two games have been abandoned, in the first qualifier in Ahmedabad the day before.
IPL: Sunrisers cruise to victory to boost second-place hopes
Sunrisers Hyderabad eased to a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings on Sunday to boost their chances of finishing second in the Indian Premier League.
Prabhsimran Singh helped Punjab set a target of 215, but Hyderabad chased that down with relative ease to go second, a position they will finish in should Rajasthan Royals lose to the table-topping Kolkata Knight Riders later on Sunday.
After the Sunrisers won the toss and put Punjab in to bat, Prabhsimran top scored with 71 runs from 45 deliveries, while Atharva Taide (46 off 27) and Rilee Roussouw (49 from 24) also impressed as the Kings, already out of playoff contention, finished on 214/5.
Hyderabad's chase got off to a terrible start as Travis Head was bowled with the first ball of the innings, but the Sunrisers' other opener Abhishek Sharma helped to steady the ship alongside Rahul Tripathi.
Abhishek smashed his way to 66 off 28 deliveries before he was dismissed, while an important innings from Heinrich Klaasen (42 from 26) set the Sunrisers up for victory.
Abdul Samad and Sanvir Singh finished the job as the Sunrisers reached their target with five balls to spare, and they can now look ahead to their playoff campaign.
Data debrief: Abhishek wastes no time
The Sunrisers overcame Head's second IPL golden duck thanks to a brilliant innings from Abhishek, who reached his half-century in just 21 balls and finished with a strike rate of 235.71.
Tripathi and Klaasen achieved strike rates of 183.33 and 161.53 respectively, while Nitish Kumar Reddy also finished with 37 from 25 deliveries as Hyderabad made light work of a daunting target.
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