GEORGE DOBELL IN MUMBAI: England succumbed to defeat by 229 runs in Mumbai after South Africa amassed 399 in their innings. England had never conceded as many in ODI cricket
Jos Buttler has admitted his tactical decisions may have contributed to England's biggest lost in ODI history.
England succumbed to defeat by 229 runs in Mumbai after South Africa amassed 399 in their innings. England had never conceded as many in ODI cricket.
During that South Africa innings, Reece Topley suffered a finger injury, Adil Rashid struggled with a stomach complaint and David Willey required treatment for cramp as England began to unravel in brutal conditions, where a combination of high temperatures, stifling humidity and poor air quality conspired to produce energy-sapping conditions.
Such was England's weariness that, in the final 10 overs of the South Africa innings, they were able to plunder 143 runs. England looked spent, physically and mentally, before they even began their reply. By that time, the sun had set and the temperature had become more comfortable.
Buttler had hoped that batting second, under lights and when a little dew was expected to have descended upon Mumbai, would prove easier. But by the time England started their reply, they almost needed a miracle to win.
South Africa thrashed England [Getty Images]
Afterwards, Buttler admitted that his decision to bowl first upon winning the toss might have been an error in such conditions.
"Physically it was really demanding," Buttler admitted. "It makes you question maybe in those kind of conditions [whether] batting first may have been the right call at the toss.
"Certainly, with hindsight, the sort of physicality of that innings, potentially batting first would have been a better decision. Physically it was tough.
"But I'm not going to sit here and question that and say you should have done this or you should have done that. It's a decision I took at the time. I thought it was the right one and I still believe if we were chasing 340, 350, we would have done really well in those conditions."
It did look, for a long time, as if England might be chasing a score of around 340. But such was South Africa's dominance in the final 10 or so overs that England were left chasing a vast total. South Africa plundered 84 from the final five overs of the innings. Heinrich Klassen (109 from 67) and Marco Jansen added 151 in just 77 balls for the sixth wicket.
"I think that was the main bit of the game," Buttler said. "We had them five down there and if we could have found a way to break that partnership and take another wicket, we could have restricted them to 340 or 350, which probably would have been a really good chase on that pitch.
"I think getting up to 400 was an excellent score. It sort of took the wind away from us and it was always going to be tough from there. We needed everything to go perfectly to pull off a chase like that."
England are struggling in defence of their title [Getty Images]
Buttler also admitted he would reflect on the selection of the team. While England's 2019 success was based, in part, upon a long batting lineup and the presence of several allrounders in the side, this team contained only five frontline bowlers and a tail which started at No.7. in the shape of David Willey.
"We thought that was going to be a good balance for this game on this wicket where pace generally is the thing that takes the most wickets," Buttler said. "But we were outplayed. We were short of our best and that's the result we came up with. We'll try and reflect logically and unemotionally."
The result - England's third loss in four games - leaves Buttler's team ninth in the table and needing something of a miracle to progress to the semi-finals. The only side below them - Afghanistan - beat them a couple of games ago.
"This certainly leaves us in a tough position," Buttler admitted. "There's no room for error from hereonin. That's going to be incredibly tough, but we'll sit down and go again. That's all you can do in this situation.
"It's going to be incredibly difficult. We haven't left ourselves any margin from this point in. But we'll keep the belief."