Captain Jos Buttler promised a thorough review of England’s white-ball side after an up-and-down T20 World Cup defence ended in a semi-final thrashing at the hands of India.
When England won the tournament in 2022 they blitzed the same opponents at the same stage by 10 wickets in Adelaide, but this time the boot was on the other foot.
Chasing 172 on a difficult batting pitch they were rounded up for 103 in response, crashing to a 68-run loss to ensure they leave the Caribbean on the back of a bitter defeat.
Their efforts this month have been an improvement on their previous global campaign, a derisory 50-over World Cup that saw them rack up six defeats from nine games, but there are questions to answer.
While they proved far too much for associates Oman, Namibia and the United States, they stacked up poorly against their more prestigious rivals. With nothing to show from their games against Australia, South Africa and India, a win over the West Indies was the best they could muster.
Questions over the long-term future of head coach Matthew Mott and debates about Buttler’s captaincy are unlikely to have been shelved by events over the last three weeks, while senior men like Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow may come under scrutiny.
“We will review everything and come up with a plan, absolutely,” he said.
“You have to review what we need to do better as a team, if that is the way we play, personnel, style of cricket. After a loss like that you are ready for a bit of space to take it in and process it so you can review not just this game but the last few months.
“I think there is lots of talent in the English game. It is up to us as an England team and country to harness that talent and development and make sure we can continue to have a good team moving forward. There’s some time between today and the next matches so we’ll see what happens.”
In the short term Buttler will head back home to spend time with his family, particularly his newborn third child who arrived shortly before the tournament.
As a skipper, Buttler wears his emotions for all to see and two disappointing title defences in seven months appear to have taken a toll. A break now awaits before he reemerges at the end of next month in The Hundred.
“To be honest, I’m just looking forward to some time away from the game,” he said.
“You can sit here and be emotional after a loss but I don’t need to dive too deep into it right now. I think reaching a semi-final is an achievement but we wanted to go all the way. That’s what we came here for. We played well enough to get to this stage but unfortunately we’ve fallen short.”
Buttler said he was content with England’s selection – which saw them resist the urge to add an extra batter – and with the decision to put India in at the toss.
Instead, he took his hat off to a side who were superior on the day and only chastised himself for overlooking Moeen Ali’s off-spin in the field.
“India outplayed us, they deserved the win,” he said.
“In hindsight, I should’ve bowled Moeen the way the spin was playing and got him into the game. But whatever team we played, whatever happened at the toss, we had to be at our best to win the game, and we were well short of that.”
