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With his team on the verge of an early World Cup exit,
Matthew Mott acknowledges that his job as England’s white-ball coach will come
under threat, but he remains “fully determined” that he and skipper
Jos Buttler will turn things around in the future.
Rob Key, England’s managing director of men’s cricket,
made it plain to Mott upon his appointment in May 2022 that he would be
evaluated based on performance in World Cups rather than bilateral series,
where England has a history of resting their first-choice players.
He led them to victory in the T20 World Cup in
Australia the previous year, solidifying England’s status as the reigning
global champions in both white-ball competitions. However, England’s ambitions
of making the semi-finals are now speculative after four losses in their first
five group games in India this month, and Mott’s position will be closely
monitored.
“Jos and I are incredibly aligned and
united,” Mott said after England’s latest defeat, an eight-wicket
thrashing by Sri Lanka in Bengaluru. “Rob Key has been an amazing support
to us [but] when you lose tournaments like this, everyone’s under scrutiny;
everyone’s place will be questioned.
“I’m fully determined that we can turn this
around. I’ve got great faith in Jos: he’s hurting now and he’ll be feeling like
there’s a lot on him. I certainly feel like I could have done things a lot
better. But I’ve been in the job 18 months: we’ve won a World Cup and lost a
World Cup. I think I’ve shown the capability that I can coach this team.”
Mott spent seven years coaching Australia’s women, so
she’s accustomed to coaching at World Cups with high standards. They emerged
victorious in both the 50-over and T20 World Cups under his direction, but they
were also stunned by the West Indies in the 2016 T20 championship and India in
the 2017 50-over semifinals.
“I think, having experiences from the past where
I’ve had tournaments like this, I’ve shown an ability to be able to turn things
around,” Mott said. “So that’ll have to happen pretty quickly. But
yeah, what will be, will be.”
England travelled to Lucknow on Friday ahead of their
next fixture against India on Sunday, for which they are massive underdogs.
“[They] are probably raging favourites at the moment,” Mott said.
“That’s an opportunity to restore some pride and confidence in the group,
and every opportunity we get to play together is vital now to try and find our
mojo again.”