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Captain Jos Buttler expressed his disappointment, saying, “It’s incredibly disappointing, we came here with high hopes to play our best cricket and we were short of that and well beaten.” England had won the toss and chose to bowl but struggled in the intense heat and humidity, allowing South Africa to post an imposing total of 399 in their 50 overs.
England’s start was promising as they dismissed South African opener Quinton de Kock with only the second ball of the innings. However, the game took a turn when tall seamer Reece Topley had to leave the field due to an injured finger. Buttler commented on the unexpected setback, saying, “Throughout the first innings lots of things didn’t go to plan. We started nicely and then Reece picked up that injury. We then had the unknown of whether he was going to come back (and bowl), so we tried to fiddle a few overs in.”
Buttler believed that if they could have limited South Africa to 340-350 runs, it would have been a manageable chase on the pitch, but South Africa managed to accelerate their scoring towards the end of their innings.
ICC World Cup, SA vs ENG: South Africa crush England by 229 Runs
In their reply, England’s hopes of a successful chase dwindled as they struggled to force the pace against South Africa’s disciplined bowling. Buttler said, “We needed to get off to a good start, but the ball did a bit, and we had a couple of (unfortunate) dismissals, caught down the leg side and caught at leg slip.”
England now finds themselves in a precarious position, having lost three of their first four games in the tournament. Their next match is against Sri Lanka on Thursday, and Buttler acknowledged that there is no room for error. He stated, “It leaves us with no room for error; we probably have to win every game from here on in.”
England’s quest for a spot in the World Cup semi-finals is now a challenging uphill battle as they aim to recover from this disheartening loss.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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