England star Jos Buttler gets brutally honest with Cricket World Cup dreams in tatters after Sri Lanka defeat
England star Jos Buttler has opened up after his side's Cricket World Cup defeat to Sri Lanka
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England captain Jos Buttler has fronted up after his side's defeat to Sri Lanka at the Cricket World Cup on Thursday.
The defending champions are on the verge of being dumped out of the competition after yet another defeat.
England lost by eight wickets, with their opponents superior with bat and ball.
And Buttler, speaking at his post-match press conference, has admitted his side's performances at the tournament have been nowhere near good enough.
England star Jos Buttler has rued his side's poor Cricket World Cup performances after Sri Lanka defeat
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"Obviously incredibly disappointing and incredibly frustrating," he admitted.
"We're not just losing, we're losing by a long way and playing well short of our best. A huge disappointment.
"It's never for a lack of effort, hard work or preparation. Look around the room, it's not a lack of talent.
"We've got a lot of fantastic cricketers. It's a huge frustration, this tournament has gone nowhere near the way we wanted it to.
"If there was one golden egg that we were missing then you'd hope to see that.
"But there is no secret, no one else can score your own runs or take your own wickets.
"That starts with the captain and I've been a long way short of my best.
"As a leader, you want to lead through your own performance and I've not been able to do that.
"You get on the plan to come to India in a really good position as a team, everything going to plan and it's just not worked at all."
Buttler also refused to commit to the captaincy and said that was a matter for England cricket chiefs to decide.
"We're a really good team, done a lot of really good things in the recent past in white-ball cricket, 50-over cricket," he continued.
"You get on the plane with high hopes and a belief we can challenge for the title so to sit here now after the three weeks which have been is a shock. It's a shock to everyone.
"I'll go back to the changing room and look at the players sat there and think, 'how have we got ourselves into this position with the talent and the skill that's in the room?'
"But it's the position we're in, it's the reality of what's happened over the last three weeks.
"It's a huge low point.
"You're always questioning, as captain, how you can get the best out of players and get the team moving in the right direction.
"I have a lot of confidence and belief in myself as a captain and leader - and, first and foremost, as a player.
"But if you're asking if I should still be captain of the team, that's a question for the guys above me."
He added: "There is a lot of really experienced, tough cricketers in the room, who have been through a lot and are confident people.
"They're tough people and you don't become a bad player or team overnight.
"That's what's so frustrating that we've been so far short of our the standards we set ourselves."
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England white-ball coach Matthew Mott, meanwhile, admitted his side have some 'serious soul searching to do'.
"We're gutted. I spoke to you last time when we had our destiny in our own hands," he said.
"After the first few overs today I thought we were on song, we'd won the toss on a good batting wicket, but we lost our way.
"We didn't do basic skills very well, losing wickets in succession and putting ourselves under pressure.
"We fought hard, battled and tried to grind to a total, but we always knew we were a hundred short of putting any sort of pressure on.
"We came out and had a fling with the ball, but it was going to take pretty much a miracle on that wicket for under that score.
England coach Matthew Mott has been left crushed by Sri Lanka defeat with Cricket World Cup hopes in tatters
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"I think you're always anxious when you're this far out from a final and you have to win every game and you know everything has to come together.
"We were outplayed today, we turned up with really good intent and we started well and thought we were on our way, but that performance was not where we need to be.
"We've got some serious soul searching to do, we're going to cop it, we know that and quite rightly, we didn't perform anywhere near our level.
"I still think we have a team good enough to win this tournament, but clearly we haven't put it together when it matters.
"Unfortunately we're out of form at a very bad time for us."