ICC World Cup 2023: Buttler urges England to maintain the religion after Afghanistan blow

England captain Jos Buttler stated the defending champion should present its resolve and imagine it might probably flip its faltering World Cup marketing campaign round after a shock 69-run defeat by Afghanistan on Sunday.

A primary loss to Afghanistan in any format left England with just one win from its first three matches within the match and with little room for error in its remaining six group video games.

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Afghanistan punished a slack bowling show to succeed in 284 all out earlier than dismissing England for 215. Harry Brook was the one batsman to supply a lot resistance as he top-scored with 66.

“It’s a big setback obviously. Before the tournament starts you have a different idea of how the first three games would pan out,” stated Buttler.

“We’ve got to show a lot of character, a lot of resilience within the team and most of all a lot of belief.

“There was a lot of excellent players in there and we haven’t played well enough today but we must keep that belief.”

He added: “It’s not been the way we wanted to start the competition, but this is the situation we find ourselves in and we’re going to have to play some of our best cricket moving forward.”

A wayward first ball from Chris Woakes, which Buttler allowed by his grasp for 5 wides, was an indication of issues to return for England.

Afghanistan placed on a gap stand on 114 — thanks largely to Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s swashbuckling 80 — however slid to 190-6 earlier than Ikram Alikhil’s 58 gave them a good goal to defend.

Tough fixtures nonetheless to return

England misplaced wickets recurrently — spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan took three apiece — and its flickering hopes have been all however extinguished when Brook departed to depart his group 169-8.

“I’m really disappointed. We’ve come here wanting to put in a really good performance. We got outplayed today. Afghanistan were fully deserving in their victory,” stated Buttler.

Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan with teammates celebrates the wicket of England’s Mark Wood through the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between Afghanistan and England, at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit:
PTI

England play in-form South Africa subsequent on Saturday in Mumbai. It additionally nonetheless has to face match favourites and hosts India, Pakistan and five-time champions Australia.

“I think everyone will be disappointed in the dressing room and sort of let that sink in,” stated Buttler.

“But there’s a lot of guys who’ve been through lots in their career in there as well and guys who’ve come back from tough situations and shown a lot of character and resilience.

“And it’s a very tight-knit group, so we’ll get around each other and pick each other up and dust ourselves down and go again.”

Ben Stokes has but to function after sitting out the opening video games with a hip damage, and Buttler gave little away in regards to the well being of England’s star batsman.

“He wasn’t fit for this game but we’ll see how he pulls up for the next one,” he stated.

Buttler additionally spoke up in defence of Woakes, England’s Ashes hero who has struggled to seek out his rhythm with the brand new ball to begin the match.

Woakes has taken simply two wickets up to now — each within the win over Bangladesh — and conceded 7.5 runs an over.

“He’s probably not performed as we know he can but he’s a class player, he’s been the leader of our attack for a very long time,” stated Buttler.

“He’s performed extremely well over a long period of time and they’re the guys you want in your team and you keep backing them.”