England in battle to safe Champions Trophy participation
Matthew Mott, England’s head coach, stated that he solely discovered that his facet’s place within the 2025 Champions Trophy was in jeopardy halfway by way of the second innings of their 100-run defeat to India in Lucknow, after the ICC confirmed the qualification process earlier on Sunday.
The ICC permitted the qualification course of at a board assembly in November 2021, figuring out that Pakistan would qualify routinely as hosts and be joined on the eight-team occasion by the seven different highest finishers on the 2023 World Cup in India. The news was not communicated publicly or to the media on the time.
The course of was confirmed to the media on Sunday afternoon in Lucknow and whereas some competing groups had been conscious of it – Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s captain, talked about a objective of a top-eight end after his facet’s defeat to the Netherlands on Saturday night time – others, together with England, weren’t.
After 5 defeats in six group video games, England are backside of the factors desk and may have two wins from their remaining three fixtures to qualify for the Champions Trophy. They play Australia in Ahmedabad on Saturday, earlier than travelling to Pune to play the Netherlands then Kolkata to face Pakistan.
There has been vital employees turnover on the ECB since that November 2021 board assembly, with adjustments to the chief govt, chair and managing director of males’s cricket, in addition to coaches and captains throughout codecs. They are unclear why the news was not communicated publicly.
Immediately after England’s defeat, Mott confirmed at a press convention that he had solely discovered in regards to the top-eight cut-off “about an hour and a half ago”. He stated: “The ICC do change the rules quite a bit with qualification and to be honest, I don’t think it would affect, in any way, the way we’ve played in this tournament, so it’s not a big deal.”
Jos Buttler, England’s captain, was requested on the post-match presentation whether or not he was conscious of the qualification course of, and whether or not it added any further motivation to England’s ultimate three video games. “Yeah, I’m aware of that,” Buttler stated. “Absolutely, it just proves we’ve got lots to play for.”
Mott added: “We’ve got a fair bit to play for towards the back end of this tournament. [The qualification process] gives us a lot of focus that we need to make sure we can’t, you know, just turn up. We’ve got to turn up and play and win those games. And we’re obviously up against some good teams in those last few games as well. That’s plenty of motivation for us.”
England’s fixture in opposition to Netherlands in Pune on November 8 looms massive as a match that would have vital implications for each groups. Netherlands haven’t featured in a Champions Trophy since 2002, after they misplaced each their group video games, whereas England have been a part of all eight editions.