Like a person’s reputation in life, confidence in sport can take an age to build and an instant to disappear. Over a three-week period, the confidence of this team, carefully built over years, has waned to the point where, here in Bengaluru, it appeared to be at rock bottom. The ghosts of bad World Cups past will be summoned for comparison, and this one stands alongside any of them given the expectations beforehand.
Mathematically, England are not out of it yet, but after a traumatic eight-wicket defeat by Sri Lanka, matters are out of their own hands. The defence of their trophy has been an abject one thus far. How Jos Buttler must wish he could turn back the clock: exactly three weeks after they opened the competition in Ahmedabad, they left the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru utterly dejected, having failed to show even a glimpse of what made them double world champions. The end of an era in 50-over cricket, for sure, and a sad one at that.
Dinner had barely been served in the media centre when Pathum Nissanka brought a shuddering halt to this game by slapping Adil Rashid over long on and into the stands for a mighty six. England’s players went through the routine of shaking hands with each other, but they looked dazed and shell-shocked, unable to comprehend what has befallen them. How have they played so badly?
This was supposed to be the start of a recovery, against a weak-looking team at a high-scoring ground. So much for that: having been bowled out for 156 in only 33.2 overs, there were 24.2 overs of the Sri Lanka innings remaining when the match ended. England were comprehensively outplayed with bat and ball, with no excuses to hand. The rest of the group-stage matches could be grisly.
Each defeat, now four in five matches, has chipped away at the confidence of a group of players at the end of a cycle. No batsman looks in any kind of form. Every player has been used; some discarded and used again. They lost faith in their all-rounder strategy before the South Africa match, making three changes, and then went back to it here, making three more. Players sense uncertainty in decision-making — and there has been a lot of uncertainty.
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It was hard to think that they could put in a worse performance than in Mumbai but they managed it with the bat in Bengaluru. On a ground where they have been embarrassed in a World Cup match previously (against Ireland in 2011) and against their bogey team (Sri Lanka have now won their past five encounters against England in 50-over World Cups) they batted without a shred of confidence, a shadow of their best selves.
The match was lost by the halfway mark. After an initial five overs that offered no clue as to what was to follow, batsmen looked anxious, tentative, lacking all conviction and, with two run-outs, confused.
The first run-out, that of their best player, Joe Root, was costly; the second, when Adil Rashid was beaten by a throw from the wicketkeeper after backing up at the non-striker’s end, seemingly totally unaware of the threat, was symptomatic of a team who have not been sharp enough from the off.
At the toss, Buttler opted to bat first on a much cooler, fresher afternoon than in Mumbai against South Africa — oh that he had done so there. Given the greater batting depth because of the return of Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali, the expectation was that England would come out full of aggression, and eight boundaries came in the opening five overs, as Sri Lanka’s new-ball bowlers erred too wide in line. For a short time, Sri Lanka were on the back foot.
The second half of the opening powerplay belonged to Sri Lanka, though, with the introduction of Angelo Mathews and Maheesh Theekshana. Dawid Malan nibbled at one and edged Mathews behind, while Root was run out after a calamitous mix up with Jonny Bairstow, Mathews the fielder at backward point. Mathews, 36, had only just been called up as a late injury replacement and had not bowled in an ODI for three years, but made an immediate impression. Sri Lanka were clearly buoyed by the return of a significant figure.
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Bairstow should have been given out leg-before to the first ball of the match, but escaped the umpire and a DRS review, and looked belligerent briefly thereafter. Pressure built on him after the run out of Root and it did not come wholly as a surprise when he holed out to Kasun Rajitha at mid-on.
Buttler has looked weighed down by the responsibility throughout, and edged behind soon afterwards from the kind of ball, on a fifth-stump line, that has troubled him all tournament. His form has deserted him at a critical juncture.
The bowler on this occasion was Lahiru Kumara — skiddy pace, stocky build — who was in the middle of a fine four-over spell, troubling everyone with his speed, movement and aggression. Kusal Mendis made a mistake in taking him off after only four overs, and Ben Stokes got stuck into the replacement, Dilshan Madushanka, briefly. Mendis then replaced Madushanka with Mathews, and Moeen Ali immediately anointed the change by cutting uppishly to backward point.
Chris Woakes looked furious to be given out caught in the same position by Sadeer Samarawickrama, after a drive that skimmed quick and low. My own instinct, looking live, was the fielder had taken an excellent catch, getting his fingers under the ball, but the replays to the third umpire were very blurry.
Woakes’s tournament has been a forgettable one, and he walked off shaking his head. It was all on Stokes, until it wasn’t: five overs later, Stokes pulled Kumara powerfully but uppishly to square leg, and that, for all intents and purposes, was that.
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Hopes were raised briefly with two early wickets for David Willey, interspersed with a very difficult dropped catch at slip from Root. England had no margin for error in the field and once Samarawickrama announced himself by driving his first ball through extra cover for four, showing the kind of confidence and conviction that had been lacking from England, the result was inevitable.
One wonders how Willey must be feeling, in the knowledge that he was the only member of this squad not to be offered a deal two days ago when the list of central contracts were released. Negotiations were completed for those long before this World Cup began, and might have looked a little different otherwise. A regeneration of what has been a great team in 50-over cricket will be required.
