Joe Root has launched a bullish defence of under-fire captain Jos Buttler, urging his England team-mates to “stand up and perform” as they seek to rescue their imploding Cricket World Cup campaign.
England’s hopes of becoming back-to-back world champions are in tatters, after they were hammered by South Africa on Saturday, a 229-run defeat their heaviest ever in One-Day Internationals.
Buttler’s men have now lost three of their opening four group-stage matches, and their title defence is in danger of meeting a humiliatingly premature end ahead of what is effectively a must-win against Sri Lanka on Thursday.
The skipper has been the subject of heavy criticism in the wake of the South Africa loss, after his baffling decision to bowl first, consigning his team to 50 overs in the field in the scorching heat of the day and then, after conceding 399 for seven, relying on a supposed preference for chasing, despite England having now lost seven of their last eight ODIs when batting second.
Root knows Buttler’s predicament well, having spent five years as Test captain, a tenure that petered out with a disastrous run of just one win in 17 matches.
“It can be [a lonely place],” he said. “Sometimes as captain you need your players to stand up and perform.
"There’s only so much you can do, you can make all the right decisions, but if the guys aren’t putting in the performances there’s only so much you can do as a leader.
“He’s led very well in my opinion over the last little while and since I’ve been back in the white-ball stuff.
"I don’t think there’s any worry there that we’re not getting the most out of Jos Buttler as a captain. As players, we’ve got to stand up, do our bit and bring that together as a collective to win games of cricket.”
A chastening afternoon in Mumbai was made all the worse for England by the loss of their most in-form bowler in Reece Topley, who has been ruled out of the tournament with a fractured finger.
Head coach Matthew Mott hinted on Saturday that Topley’s replacement might not necessarily be like-for-like, but on Monday morning it was confirmed that Durham quick Brydon Carse has been called up.
The 28-year-old featured in the recent ODI series against New Zealand and Ireland and will join up with the squad in Bangalore this week, though he is unlikely to feature against Sri Lanka.
England will have to win at least four of their remaining matches, and possibly all five, to reach the semi-finals, but Root insists hope is not lost.
“I’ve played in a number of different England teams — good ones and bad ones — and this is one of the best ones,” he told Sky Sports.
“This white-ball team, over an eight-year period now, likes very simple messaging and has responded very well to it. We have some very simple messaging in front of us right now: we have to go out and we have to win.
“In some ways it unshackles us and frees us up to go and do what we do. Now we’ve just got to go and do it.”
