England captain Jos Buttler promised a thorough review will take place after his side’s up-and-down T20 World Cup that ended with a semi-final thrashing at the hands of India.
When England won the tournament in 2022 they blitzed the same opponents at the same stage by 10 wickets in Adelaide, but this time the boot was on the other foot.
Chasing 172 on a difficult batting pitch Buttler’s side were bundled out for 103, crashing to a 68-run loss to ensure they leave the Caribbean on the back of a bitter defeat.
Their efforts in the tournament have at least been an improvement on their previous title defence, a miserable 50-over World Cup campaign last year that saw them rack up six defeats from nine games, but there are still questions to answer.
While England proved far too much for associate nations Oman, Namibia and the United States, they stacked up poorly against their more prestigious rivals, losing to Australia, South Africa and India over the course of the tournament.
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Highlights of the T20 World Cup final semi-final between India and England in Guyana.
“We will review everything and come up with a plan, absolutely,” Buttler told reporters after his side’s World Cup exit.
“You have to review what we need to do better as a team, if that is the way we play, personnel, style of cricket.
“After a loss like that you are ready for a bit of space to take it in and process it so you can review not just this game but the last few months.
“I think there is lots of talent in the English game. It is up to us as an England team and country to harness that talent, develop and make sure we can continue to have a good team moving forward. There’s some time between today and the next matches so we’ll see what happens.”
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England lose their eighth wicket to sum up their calamitous innings as miscommunication between Liam Livingstone and Jofra Archer results in a messy run out.
In the short term, Buttler will head back home to spend time with his family, particularly his newborn third child who arrived shortly before the tournament.
“To be honest, I’m just looking forward to some time away from the game,” he added.
“You can sit here and be emotional after a loss but I don’t need to dive too deep into it right now.
“I think reaching a semi-final is an achievement but we wanted to go all the way. That’s what we came here for. We played well enough to get to this stage but unfortunately we’ve fallen short.”
Stokes: Reaching semi-final is no mean feat
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Ben Stokes believes England should be proud to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals after defeat to India
England Test captain Ben Stokes praised England’s efforts at the T20 World Cup, saying they have progressed from the previous 50-over white-ball tournament in India last year.
“Devastated for Jos [Buttler] and [Matthew] Mott because it was a semi-final,” Stokes told Sky Sports News.
“They got through to another tournament semi-final which is no mean feat, some seriously good teams out there but you’ve got to give credit to India and the way they’ve played in a big game.
“It’s going to be a great final to watch, two very good teams that are playing very good cricket.
“Very disappointed for the team but they can come back from the West Indies with their head held high knowing that they threw everything at India in the semi-final, it didn’t go their way but the team is progressing and that’s all you can ask for.
“Getting to a World T20 semi-final is definitely part of progression, especially how our last World Cup in India went.”
Speaking about how England will deal with the criticism, Stokes said: “It’s totally individual, people say don’t read it, don’t pay attention to it, but it’s impossible in this day and age with social media, the outlets, it’s everywhere and you just see it but people handle it differently.
“I’m pretty good at it, sometimes it does annoy you but I just crack on, that’s not the case with everyone and it is difficult when you come under scrutiny, you have to find a way to deal with it as an individual, which is something I’ve got better at in the last five years, it’s tough.
“I guess what we’ve got to do as players is understand that people really want us to do well but sometimes the unwarranted comments do niggle away at you but it’s fine.”
Watch the T20 World Cup final in Barbados from 3pm on Saturday (3.30pm first ball), live on Sky Sports Cricket.