Former skipper Nasser Hussain has advised the England cricket team to play for the badge now as their chances of making it to the semifinals are extremely low at the moment. England have lost four of their last five matches and they will next face table-toppers India in Lucknow on Sunday. It is going to be a litmus test for the defending champions to stay alive in the semifinal race.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka pushed dismal England to the brink of World Cup elimination on Thursday when they handed them a crushing eight-wicket defeat in Bengaluru.
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Hussain said that it’s time for England to remind India and the cricket world that they are great players.
“The players must take the responsibility for this. I’m not a great one for cliches like playing for the badge but that’s what England have got to do now. They have to go to Lucknow on Sunday and spoil India’s party. They must remind India and the world just how great cricketers they have been – and still are,” Nasser Hussain wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.
England will face tough tests in the upcoming matches as three of those games are against undefeated two-time champions India, five-time winners Australia and 1992 champions Pakistan.
England have slipped to ninth in the 10-team table and need to win their four remaining games to have any hope of even squeezing into the semi-finals.
Hussain further slammed the excuses of Hundred, T20 Blash in England’s poor show in the World Cup.
“I’ve heard people at home are doing that but this is not the fault of the Hundred or the Blast or the fact England’s best players do not play much 50-over cricket. They are just lame excuses.”
The defending champions were thrashed by nine wickets in their tournament opener against New Zealand, beat Bangladesh in their second match but have since been shocked by Afghanistan and hammered by a record margin by South Africa prior to their latest defeat on Thursday.
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