England have NO issues in their camp despite dismal ODI World Cup defence, claims Matthew Mott… after Eoin Morgan suggests their problems run deeper than a loss of form
- England lost their fifth game from six at the World Cup, suffering defeat to India
- They are currently bottom of the 10 teams in the group stage of the competition
- Matthew Mott said his side are an ‘incredibly tight unit’ despite their awful form
Head coach Matthew Mott denied there were issues in the England camp after former captain Eoin Morgan claimed their World Cup woes were down to something deeper than a collective loss of form.
Speaking after England had slumped to an unprecedented fifth defeat, losing to India by 100 runs in Lucknow, Mott insisted: ‘I don’t think that at all.
‘Anyone inside our tent at the moment would say that, despite our results, we’re an incredibly tight-knit unit – to the point where Dave Humphreys, the former rugby international, was flabbergasted how tight the unit was when he came in for a week to observe us given the results we’ve had.
‘There’s every opportunity when you’re losing to splinter and go other ways. But I can only say from my opinion the group’s been incredibly strong.
‘You see our training sessions, they’re full of fun. It’s easy to do that when you’re winning but a lot harder when you’re losing and I’m proud we just keep trying to get up.’
England head coach Matthew Mott (right) denied England’s issues run deeper than a poor run
His side suffered their fifth defeat in six World Cup matches on Sunday, losing to hosts India
Former England captain Eoin Morgan said England’s loss of form ‘doesn’t make any sense whatsoever’ and that he thinks ‘there’s something else going on’
Morgan had told Sky Sports: ‘I’ve never come across a sports team that has underperformed like this England team, given the level of expectation that is on their shoulders.’
And Morgan ridiculed the loss-of-form theory, saying: ‘Given how strong the team is, that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
‘I think there’s something else going on – there has to be.
‘England have gone away from what has worked for them for a long time – and in the space of three weeks.’
Mott, who worked briefly with Morgan before he retired from international cricket during England’s tour of the Netherlands in the summer of 2022, said: ‘Eoin’s entitled to his opinion and he’s obviously been away for a couple of weeks with the birth of his child.
England are bottom of the World Cup group stage in what has been a dismal title defence
Current skipper Jos Buttler (right) said England’s performance was ‘the same old story’
‘He hasn’t been in and around the rooms. I’ll certainly take that up with him and have a chat to him. We’ve got a really good relationship, so if he’s seeing something I’m not I’ll definitely have that conversation.’
Meanwhile, captain Jos Buttler suggested that any answers to England’s ongoing struggles were ‘on a postcard’.
‘I’m very disappointed,’ he said. ‘At the halfway stage, chasing 230, we would have fancied ourselves. But it was the same old story.
‘It’s all about execution. The answer is on a postcard. It was a great start in the powerplay by the bowlers, and the ground fielding was good. But the way we batted, we didn’t back that up.’
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