Defending champions England were considered one of the contenders to go the distance in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. However, to say that their campaign thus far has been disappointing will be a massive understatement.
Jos Buttler and Co. have managed to win just one out of the six matches they have played and are currently languishing at the bottom of the points table. Eoin Morgan, who led England to their first ODI World Cup title in 2019, suggested that an ‘unsettled’ dressing room was the major cause behind the poor outing.
“Something else [is] going on … there has to be,” Morgan said while speaking to Sky Sports after England’s 100-run defeat against India in Lucknow on Sunday, October 29. The southpaw was shocked by the level of England’s performance after they entered the tournament as one of the strong favourites.
“But there was a different level of expectation in that changing-room. You were only expected to qualify for the quarter-finals. You weren’t expected to compete for silverware. They wanted to win this tournament. After this 50-over World Cup, the next one is in 2027. Eight or nine of these guys will not be here, they will be too old and the majority will have retired. In a special time for English white-ball cricket, there will be a huge sense of a missed opportunity, because the quality in that changing-room is hard to come by,” Morgan said.
“Eoin’s entitled to his opinion and he’s obviously been away for a couple of weeks with the birth of his child. He hasn’t been in and around the rooms. I’ll certainly take that up with him and have a chat to him. We’ve got a really good relationship with him so if he’s seeing something I’m not, I’ll definitely have that conversation,” Mott said.
