New coach Matthew Mott is already facing the music – and opener Jason Roy is facing the axe – after England's white-ball meltdown this summer.
Mott called Sunday's feeble 90-run defeat by South Africa at the Ageas Bowl a “line-in-the-sand moment” after 12 games in 24 days where England lost three limited-over series and drew the other. Hit by World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan's retirement, and Test skipper Ben Stokes standing down from 50-over cricket, Mott admitted he had been “trying to put band aids over a few little cracks.”
England now have just seven games in Pakistan next month to rediscover a winning formula before the T20 world cup in Australia this autumn – with the batting unit, and Roy's damaging loss of form, prominent among their concerns. Roy has looked a tortured soul, cobbling together 76 runs from 98 balls in six innings, and Mott hinted that his credit was running low.
