ENGLAND'S WHITE-BALL SET-UP MUST CHANGE AFTER ANOTHER DISASTROUS WORLD CUP DEFENCE. WHY TIME IS UP FOR MATTHEW MOTT AS COACH - AND WHO SHOULD REPLACE JOS BUTTLER AS CAPTAIN, WRITES LAWRENCE BOOTH
- England crashed out of the T20 World Cup with a dismal 68-run defeat by India
- Jos Buttler enjoyed success early in his captaincy but it's time to move forward
- England's white-ball set-up has traded for too long on their 2022 World Cup win
Matthew Mott was in defiant mood after England were blown away by India in Thursday’s T20 World Cup semi-final in Guyana, insisting his team would ‘come back bigger, badder and better’. Perhaps they will. But it is unlikely to be with Mott as coach - or Jos Buttler as captain.
England’s white-ball set-up has traded for too long on their World Cup win in Australia two years ago, a triumph based on the legacy of Eoin Morgan, who had stepped down as captain only a few months earlier.
But cricket’s calendar fills up frantically, and that is ancient history now. England’s defence of their 50-over title in India last year was a disaster, and their defence of the T20 title here in the Caribbean little better - despite the misleading headline of a place in the semi-finals.
For a team with their resources and talent, it was bad enough that England should endure one underwhelming World Cup. But two? That’s end-of-era stuff. Mott and Buttler are industrious and thoughtful. But, as a pair, they haven’t worked. It’s time to start again.
Managing director Rob Key has no desire to rock the boat - not in public at least - during the build-up to England’s Test series against West Indies, which starts at Lord’s on July 10 with a prolonged farewell to Jimmy Anderson.
But there is a three-week gap between that series and the one against Sri Lanka, giving Key time to put in place a new structure before England’s next white-ball outing - three T20s and five ODIs against Australia in September. The Champions Trophy takes place in Pakistan in March: there is no time to waste.
The reality is that only victory here in the Caribbean, where India and South Africa will contest today’s/tomorrow’s final at Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval, would have saved the Mott-Buttler ticket.
Three defeats out of four against Test nations belied Mott’s claim that England made progress, while Buttler’s admission that he was wrong to overlook the bowling of Moeen Ali against India on a slow Guyanese track was the latest in a string of tactical blunders. Duffing up Oman, Namibia and the USA is no kind of blueprint.
At 33, Buttler can still play an important role in the next T20 World Cup, in 2026 in India, where his IPL experience should prove invaluable. But both he and England will be best served if the captaincy passes to a younger player not yet exhausted by the franchise treadmill.
Harry Brook has the cricketing intelligence to lead the white-ball teams into the new era, as well as a guaranteed place in the XI. And what better man to guide him than Morgan himself - perhaps the only figure in England’s limited-overs history to elevate the shorter formats into the public’s affections.
England’s Test side have shown the benefit of boldness under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. It’s time for their one-day and T20 counterparts to follow suit.
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