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England would like to exit the World Cup “with a
bang” as opposed to “with a whimper,” as they seem to have lost
their enthusiasm and spark. That is the opinion of their vice captain, Moeen
Ali, who is expected to play against Sri Lanka in Bangalore on Thursday for his
second outing of the tournament.
On the first night of the tournament, Moeen
participated in England’s nine-wicket loss against New Zealand in Ahmedabad,
but he has not appeared since. He now has a clearer understanding of his
teammates’ shortcomings after being dropped, especially in the losses to
Afghanistan and South Africa. With five group games left, they will most likely
need to win in order to advance to the semifinals.
“Our intent hasn’t been there,” Moeen said.
“When you see it from the outside, it’s just like that spark is missing;
that thing is missing where they’re enjoying taking bowlers down and enjoying
going out to bat. The situations haven’t always been easy but still: I feel
like it’s a game of cricket, at the end of the day, and I think we’re probably
taking it too seriously in certain ways.
“It’s almost having that carefree kind of
attitude: who cares? It’s a game of cricket. If you’re going to make mistakes,
you might as well make them doing what you’re good at doing. And we’re making
mistakes anyway, so do it with a smile on your face… I think we as a group have
been overthinking too much.”
In both the 2019 World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup,
early group-stage defeats left England with no margin for error in their last
four games. On both occasions, they rediscovered their attacking batting style
after being confronted with the prospect of elimination. “We’ve been in
this position before – probably not to this degree – but we know everything is
a must-win,” Moeen said.
“There’s no point playing the way we’re playing
and then [we will] go out and go home and have regrets. I’ve always believed –
and I believe still – that if we play how we play and we know we can play, most
teams, we’ll beat… let’s at least go out with a bang, if we’re going to go out.
And be entertaining. That’s really important, because that’s something we
haven’t been at all.”