Three Games to Save a Job? No Excuses if England Fail Again

Sri Lanka - Ekhbary News Agency

Three Games to Save a Job? No Excuses if England Fail Again

The noise is one of the first things that hits you on arrival in India. The chatter. The beeping of horns. A thrilling assault on the senses. England have also battled to dampen the noise around their group throughout this T20 World Cup campaign. Should Brendon McCullum stay on as coach? Is Harry Brook the right man to be captain?

Even after reaching the relative tranquillity of central Sri Lanka, Brook fielded questions about the ongoing situation regarding Pakistan players' involvement in The Hundred. Brook's pre-prepared answers – he gave it in two separate interviews to different questions – did not say much, but he did at least show support for those involved. On another day, Brook's admission that England had "probably underestimated a couple of the sides" when scraping through the group stage would have taken the headlines. It was honest, but not a great look for a team battling a perception of being loose with their preparation.

"We obviously didn't know all the players and we had minimal stats on some of them," Brook said. "That's something that we can definitely improve on in the future, especially in tournaments further down the line - getting your homework done a little bit earlier."

England's performance in the group stage was undoubtedly unconvincing. They were taken to the final ball by Nepal and lost to West Indies in Mumbai, before edging to wins over Italy and Scotland in Kolkata. Batters got in and got out - Tom Banton's 63 not out the only real match-defining score. Even the ever-reliable Adil Rashid has gone for nine runs per over or more in three of the four games. It means England have shown little to suggest they can threaten late into the tournament to this point. Without improvement, this will likely be a fourth underwhelming major tournament in a row since they won the T20 World Cup in 2022.

But Brook's comments also reflect some of the difficulties faced by the major nations at this World Cup – a tournament in which no team has built an entirely compelling case to suggest they will be champions. Players from the lower-ranked teams expressed their keenness to perform, not just to cause an upset but also to prove they are deserving of the greater opportunities they so desperately seek. The Test-playing sides, in contrast, had everything to lose. Just ask Mitchell Marsh when he gets off his flight to back to Australia on Saturday.

And for all their struggles to finish matches with ease, England were also ahead in all three games against their lower-ranked opponents. Nepal's chase looked to have stalled, Scotland were 127-8 and Italy 1-2 in the first over of their chase. Most former England captains would not admit it, and maybe Brook has shown he would, but it would only be human to relax in those situations.

Most of all, however, England are hoping familiarity brings an upturn in fortunes. They returned to Sri Lanka on Tuesday, first spending two nights in Colombo before taking the winding drive to Pallekele. Colombo was where Brook stood in front of his team-mates in late January and apologised for his late-night antics in Wellington and the subsequent fallout – an attempt to draw a line under the Ashes defeat. Pallekele was where England won all three T20s against the very same team they now face.

England said they were badly prepared for the Ashes and now admit to being underprepared for this group stage. For the next task, they could hardly have had better preparation. "It's just about reading the pitch and the conditions as quickly as possible and communication's key," said Brook, when asked what he learned from beating Sri Lanka. "We obviously had that last game where we only got 130, but that ended up being a winning score." "You never quite know what's going to happen with the pitch and until you end up playing on it."

The 3-0 win, which concluded less than three weeks ago, took England's winning run in T20s against Sri Lanka to 11. There have been six UK prime ministers since England last lost to Sunday's opponents in the shortest format. Sri Lanka's key bowlers Wanindu Hasaranga and Matheesha Pathirana have also been ruled out with injury.

And after Sri Lanka, England will face Pakistan before a meeting with New Zealand. They have won their past three T20 series against Pakistan and beat the Black Caps last year. That was a rain-hit contest but in the one match completed, England racked up 236-4. The favourable draw, set by the pre-seedings that have sent the four group winners into the other side of the Super 8 draw, means there will be no excuses should England fail to progress to the semi-finals. That was the minimum requirement before this tournament began and relief at avoiding a group-stage exit should not hide that fact.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Richard Gould arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday, with managing director Rob Key to follow on Sunday. It is described as a pre-planned trip rather than anything that should ramp up the pressure on coach Brendon McCullum, whose future remains in question after the Ashes debacle. These may be three matches for McCullum to save his job – should he want to continue into the summer. Two wins would likely be enough to take England into the semi-finals. Anything less and that noise would only ramp up again. Is Buttler's form a worry? England's T20 World Cup so far analysed England still confident despite unconvincing run - Jacks.