‘Unbelievable’: English delusion exposed in embarrassing Joe Root quote

Joe Root has fired a barb at Australia ahead of their Cricket World Cup clash, despite England’s calamitous performance.

Please stop England, it’s getting embarrassing now.

The kings of the moral victory have re-emerged as England’s Joe Root has somehow attempted to spin his nation’s farcical World Cup defence into a positive, despite the reigning champions sitting 10th out of 10 in the tournament.

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England have won just one game, downing Bangladesh, but the other five matches have been nothing short of catastrophic for the Poms.

A nine wicket loss to New Zealand with 82 balls to spare in the opening match, a 69-run loss to Afghanistan, 229-run loss to South Africa, eight wicket loss to Sri Lanka and 100-run loss to India have the side absolutely reeling and already out of finals contention despite three matches remaining.

For the record, the 229-run loss to South Africa is England’s biggest ever ODI loss. It was also the first time England had lost to Afghanistan.

It has been an absolute humiliation for England, who have been torn apart by legends with rumours of infighting hounding the side.

This is where you are on the ladder England. Photo: Supplied

And yet, on the eve of England’s first match against Australia since the Ashes, Joe Root has claimed England can beat anyone.

“I look at this team and it’s more than capable of achieving way more than it has done throughout this tournament,” Root said.

“The quality of players we have, we should be sat right at the top of this (table). We all know that, and we’re all very frustrated that isn’t the case.

“This group of players have three opportunities to play at the level we expect of ourselves: I fully believe we are more than capable of doing that on Saturday.

“Man for man, I’d have this team every day over the Australians. We might not have played as well as we can do, but we know when we play our best stuff, the best teams struggle to compete with us.”

While it’s not surprising as Root was likely trying to lift the moral in the flailing side but, to the rest of the world, it’s an insane suggestion for a team that’s been so outplayed during the World Cup.

Sports reporter Matt Buxton said it best when he wrote on X: “England are coming last and Joe Root says this. They’re unbelievable, all of them.”

England have been deplorable in the World Cup. Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP

Surely you’re kidding Joe. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images

It’s far from the first time in recent history that England have claimed a victory despite not winning anything — Ashes anyone?

England were adamant that they won the recent Ashes despite the 2-all draw, which meant that Australia have now retained the urn for the last four series.

And since England have won just one series in Australia since 1986-87 (a total of nine series), including not winning a Test in the past three series’ Down Under.

But Root claimed the match against Australia was the equivalent of a “World Cup final”.

To be fair, it is as close as England will get to a World Cup final in this edition of the World Cup.

“We have to remember that and take that into the next couple of days, both in physical practice and mentally, (we have to) make sure we‘re in that frame of mind to take on Australia, which is what it’s about for us now,” he said.

“We’ve just got to look at Saturday as our World Cup final and play in the manner that’s expected of us and we expect of ourselves.

“It hurts – it always hurts to be in this position to be sat at the bottom of the table. It’s not what we expect of ourselves. If it motivates us a little bit more, then great.”

Got ‘em just where you want ‘em aye Joe? Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Many Aussie legends have termed the match a bogey game for Australia against an English side that will be desperate to claim a win as the equivalent of a title.

Australia have tried not to needle England during the World Cup, but after captain Pat Cummins couldn’t hide his laugh at the Poms’ humiliating loss to Sri Lanka and Marnus Labuschagne labelled the addition of Bazball to the Collins Dictionary as “garbage”, there’s no doubt the old enemy will use the perceived slights as fuel.

Root also claimed there was no animosity with Australia, despite the fact England can’t seem to forget the Bairstow incident in the Ashes, where the England wicketkeeper was stumped after he wandered out of his crease.

Extracts from a new book on Bazball released during the World Cup featured Bairstow relitigating the drama, with the Englishman even pulling the old “won’t someone think of the children” card to explain his brain fart.

While the interview was likely done months ago, the timing of the release was no coincidence.

However, Australia refuse to talk about the Bairstow incident and have moved on from the issue.

England, we suggest you do the same.

Originally published as ‘Unbelievable’: English delusion exposed in embarrassing Joe Root quote