Defending champions England are having a disastrous ODI World Cup 2023 with three losses in four games, two of which came back-to-back against Afghanistan and South Africa. England now are in danger of getting eliminated from the tournament altogether but would hope to get their campaign on track in the match against Sri Lanka.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Speaking ahead of the clash against Lanka on October 26 in Bengaluru, England vice-captain Moeen Ali agreed that the intent from the English team hasn’t been there. Moeen has played in only the opening game against New Zealand and will be returning to the side against Sri Lanka.
Moeen also said that the spark is also missing from the England team and that the players are taking certain situations too seriously.
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“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,” added the all-rounder.
The Englishman agreed that the situation isn’t ideal for the defending champs, but said that they’d like to go out with a bang if they were to exit.
“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,” added Ali.
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