[ad_1]
Matthew Mott insists his leadership partnership with Jos Buttler has been ‘galvanised’ and given chance to continue after England T20 World Cup torn apart by India, believes the team will bounce back ‘bigger, badder and better’.
Having secured the trophy in Australia in 2022, both Mott, the head coach, and Buttler, the captain, have found themselves under pressure, with a woeful 50-over defense from the World Cup in India last winter followed by a spasmodic T20 campaign. which saw only associated teams and the West Indies defeated before a bloody semi-final.
But Mott, who is understood to have two years left on his contract, believes progress has been made behind the scenes. So while we are prepared for outside criticism – “you guys [in the media] you’ll have fun at our expense, I’m sure,” he said – the Australian hoping team principal Rob Key would keep faith with the pair.
“Yeah, I definitely do,” Mott replied when asked if he thought he was still the best man for the job. “I think Joss and I as a partnership have stepped up in the last six months and you learn more about leadership in times of difficulty.
“If you asked around the dressing room, we have a lot of people in the support staff who gave credit to the leadership group for the way we held together in difficult circumstances. So sometimes it’s not all about the results.
“I think we were good without being great. Overall for a tournament, given some of the difficulties we faced, I was absolutely blown away by Jos’ leadership throughout. I thought he was amazing just to stay that level.”
It could be that with the 50-over Champions Trophy next year and the next T20 World Cup not until 2026, a line will be drawn under some senior players. Moeen Ali, 37, Jonny Bairstow, 34, and Chris Jordan, 35, are clearly nearing the end; possibly even Adil Rashid, 36, despite a good personal campaign.
Asked if it was time for fresh blood, Mott said: “We’ve got a pretty good mix at the moment. You never know. You always have time to reflect after the World Cup. We’ll be licking our wounds for the next week or two and then I’m sure we’ll get back to planning, we have a series against Australia in September.
“But there have been no discussions on this issue. We’ve actually done well by concentrating on exactly what’s going on here and every team we come up against we try to give our full attention. So we’ll take that time to think when we come back and then hopefully come back bigger, badder and better.”
after the promotion of the newsletter
Mott and Butler received support from a prominent voice at home. Ben Stokes, who missed the tournament to focus on returning to a full all-round role in the Test side he captains, believes reaching the semi-finals – despite being bowled out for 103 on the day by a mighty India side – is still still counts as progress.
Stokes said: “Obviously I was gutted, watching the game and devastated for them. They did it in a strange way – there was a lot of time around, but when they were under pressure, especially at the end of the group stage, they showed what a good team they are.
“When you’re under pressure, that’s when good teams come together and show what they can do. But India are a very, very good team, especially in the conditions that this kind of wicket offers, [that] gave a huge advantage to India.
“But I think the way Joss and Moti went out there, they did a great job. We would like to have gone all the way, but reaching the semi-finals is not an easy thing to do.
[ad_2]
