England skipper Jos Buttler admitted the big loss against South Africa leaves them with no room for error in the upcoming matches of the World Cup. The defending champions are currently in ninth place in the standings with a solitary win in four games and Buttler reckons they will need to win every match from here on to qualify for the semifinals.
England was hammered by South Africa as the latter posted a gargantuan score of 399 runs on the board after Buttler decided to field first at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday. The Proteas didn’t get off to a great start they lost the early wicket of in-form Quinton de Kock.
However, Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen added 121 runs for the second wicket with the former playing some beautiful inside-out shots. South Africa were 243-5 after David Miller was dismissed but Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen put on a show in the last 10 overs.
Both the batters took English bowlers to the cleaners with Klaasen smashing 109 runs off just 67 balls whereas Jansen made great use of his reach to hammer a 42-ball 75. As a result, South Africa posted an above-par score of 399 runs on the board.
On the other hand, England kept losing wickets at regular intervals and found themselves on the mat at 100-8. Their tailenders took them to 170 but they still lost by a huge margin of 229 runs, as their Net Run Rate also took a massive hit.
Jos Buttler said in the post-match presentation, “ Incredibly disappointing. We were well beaten. We have come here to play our best cricket. Lots of things didn’t go to plan in the first innings. Reece picked up the injury. The boys fought hard. We could have restricted to 340-350, could have been a good chase. Incredibly tough under the heat.”
He added, “Could have been a good chase had we gotten off to a good start. The humidity was one of the challenges. Was tough. We needed to get off to a very good start. Couple of dismissals down the leg-side didn’t help. Leaves us with no room for error. Need to win every game from here on.”
England will need to return to their best and they will next take on Sri Lanka at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Thursday.
