‘I’ve never seen this’: England’s humiliation is complete

England has imploded at the Cricket World Cup with a former captain making an extraordinary call about their humiliation.

England is imploding at the Cricket World Cup after it was officially eliminated from the tournament on Monday morning.

The abysmal campaign was extended to a record fifth defeat at the 2023 tournament with India cruising to a 100-run victory.

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England cricket figures have begun turning on each other as the country searches for answers as to why the defending champions have been so dreadful in India.

England coach Matthew Mott became “spiky” in his post match press conference when asked prickly questions about comments from former England players.

Mott said the team remains an “incredibly tight-knit unit”.

Mott’s claims came after former England captain Eoin Morgan insisted that there were splits in the camp which were causing the champions to under-perform.

“I’ve never come across a sports team that has underperformed like this, given the level of expectation,” 2019 World Cup winning skipper Morgan told Sky Sports.

“There’s something within the team that is definitely unsettled. I think there’s something else going on — there has to be.”

Mott was quick to refute the claims.

“I don’t think that at all. I think anyone that’s inside our tent at the moment would say that despite our results, we’re an incredibly tight-knit unit,” he said.

“I can only say from my opinion the group’s been incredibly strong in that part. If you see our training sessions, they’re full of fun. People are putting their arm around each other, trying to help them.”

Pressed on the topic and Mott said: “Eoin’s entitled to his opinion. He’s obviously been away for a couple of weeks with the birth of his child.

Hello darkness my old friend. Photo by TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / AFP.

“He hasn’t been in and around the rooms, but I’ll certainly take that up with him and have a chat to him.”

It was England’s fifth loss in six games — leaving them on the bottom of the 10-team table.

Their bowlers kept India down to 229-9, but the batting once again collapsed to 129 all out against an Indian attack led by Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.

England’s batting folded for 156 in their previous loss to Sri Lanka, but Mott said the team will not throw in the towel in their next three matches.

“I think it’s tough. I’m sick of coming up and speaking to you guys about the same thing, but that’s what professional sport is,” he said.

“And we’ve got to keep pushing hard here. We’ve got a fair bit to play for to the back end of this tournament.”

“The first half we did our job the second half was one would rather forget and we’ve got to find a way. There’s some world-class players in there that unfortunately aren’t scoring the runs that they’re used to scoring.”

Kuldeep Yadav of India celebrates the wicket of Liam Livingstone. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.

England is now a very real chance of missing out on the 2025 Champions Trophy, where the top seven teams from this World Cup and hosts Pakistan are expected to compete.

However, Mott said they got to know about the qualification scenario only “about an hour and a half ago”.

“Well, the ICC (International Cricket Council) do change the rules quite a bit with qualification and to be honest I don’t think it would affect in any way the way we’ve played in this tournament so it’s not a big deal,” said Mott.

Marcus Trescothick, England’s assistant coach, said that the squad are “feeling the heat” and “gutted”.

To pile more misery on the Poms, India spinner Kuldeep Yadav said beating them “wasn’t that tough”.

The hosts extended their unbeaten run to six games in the tournament.

“I mean to be very honest it was good to win - beating the defending champions,” Kuldeep, who took two wickets including England skipper Jos Buttler bowled for 10, told reporters.

“They don’t have the great tournament so far. So it wasn’t that tough.”

His cutting comment about England’s performances followed some savage reaction from across the cricket world.

BBC Cricket commentator Prakash Wakankar said: “As a lover of cricket, it is a sad sight. A world champion team, capitulating after putting in a great start and bowling the way they did”.

— with AFP

Originally published as ‘I’ve never seen this’: England’s humiliation is complete