Since England lost to India last weekend attention has turned towards Australians – the team England are going to play in Ahmedabad on Saturday, and the one in their dressing room. With England’s World Cup defence having turned into a calamity there will inevitably be conversations about whether Matthew Mott, their Australian coach, can retain his position. I’d say the jury is very much out.
England’s problems go a lot deeper than Mott, but now he needs to react to them. He arrived at the World Cup with the nucleus of a great, experienced side but under the relentless examination of competition it has proved not to be a strength at all. I didn’t see it coming, but from a distance what has happened looks slightly familiar. I’ve been involved in the past with successful teams full of experienced professionals, and I’ve seen how over time they can lose their edge. I’ve witnessed the disintegration of the very professionalism and dedication that allowed a group of people to achieve success. Sometimes it is age, sometimes it is attitude, but at some point, without realising, professional sportspeople can just go over the threshold.
