Matthew Mott and his players spent their first full day here in Ahmedabad playing golf. Intentionally or not, it served as a demonstration of unity after speculation that the England white-ball head coach had lost the support of the team after they had lost four successive games at a World Cup for the first time.
Dawid Malan, who was the team’s only century-maker in six matches with a hundred in their only victory, against Bangladesh, said that Mott retained the support of the dressing room and that it was important the players took responsibility.
“Whenever you have a poor campaign there is always someone who’s going to be targeted, whether it be the captain, players, coach or selectors,” Malan, the opening batsman, said. “That noise comes with World Cups. The only way we can get the noise off the coach is by performing and it is up to us, in the next three games, to win these games and take that narrative away, because we have not performed.
“Motty is not the one walking out on the field. As players we need to take responsibility when we cross that rope. We are being given everything we need to perform.”
Malan said that there was every motivation to play better, especially as qualification for the Champions Trophy in February 2025 depends on England lifting themselves from tenth in the table to eighth or higher.
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“People’s jobs are being scrutinised and players’ careers are being scrutinised,” he added. “We have a hell of a lot to play for. The last thing you want, if the decision gets made to move on from players, is that we haven’t done well enough to give other players the opportunity in future to play in big tournaments. You want to be in the Champions Trophy and the World Cup.
“We’ve players that have played enough to know that if you soak the pressure up you’ll be able to release it later [but] when the pressure is on we seem to take poor options, myself included.”
England’s golfers found themselves being followed round the course by the Australians, who are their next opponents here on Saturday. Malan said that there was no sledging from their rivals, though judging by how many balls he lost, there might have been.
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Malan, 36, has scored more runs against Australia across all formats than any other country and is looking forward to facing them again.
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“We absolutely love playing against Australia. They’re a fantastic team, they’re playing well and the history of my career with Australia has been really good in terms of the challenge. Hopefully that lifts us up to another level.”
Of Eoin Morgan, the former England white-ball captain turned pundit whose claims of an unsettled camp set hares running, Malan added: “Ultimately his job is to have an opinion. I don’t know what he’s been saying but the criticism is fair: we’ve not been good enough.
“I can only give my honest opinion on how the group is going. The boys are still supportive of each other and trying to get the best out of each other.”
Malan rejected the idea that the recent negotiations over central contracts had been a distraction during the tournament. “We were told before we left where we sat with the contract situation,” he said.
It is understood that if England fail to qualify for the Champions Trophy, which is taking place in Pakistan, Cricket West Indies would be interested in hosting England for some Tests in the Caribbean instead; West Indies have already been ruled out of Champions Trophy participation. As things stand, England are not due to play Tests in the West Indies during the next four-year cycle.
