By Frank Dalleres
England director of cricket Rob Key has thrown his support behind white-ball coach Matthew Mott and captain Jos Buttler despite the team’s World Cup defence ending in abject failure.
Key took his share of the blame for prioritising the Test side but warned that he now expected Mott and Buttler to learn from the team’s worst ever performance at the tournament.
“As far as I’m concerned he gets my full backing. He’s the person to get the first opportunity to put that right,” Key said of Mott.
“But it’s certainly not a case of saying ‘carry on, let’s keep doing everything the same and get the same result’. You’re now the person charged with sorting this out – along with myself, Jos, everyone else who has any kind of decision-making authority in English cricket. It’s for everyone to be accountable for that.
“I feel this actually should be the making of those two [Mott and Buttler] as a partnership. If it isn’t, it isn’t and you move on but we have to make sure some good comes out of what has been a very poor World Cup.”
England lost six of their nine World Cup games but did at least sign off with a victory over Pakistan in their final group fixture on Saturday in Kolkata.
While Brendon McCullum and Bazball have revitalised England’s Test set-up, Key acknowledged that he had been guilty of neglecting the white-ball teams.
“I look at what I’ve not done rather than blaming everyone else. I hold myself accountable for a lot,” he added.
“Since I’ve started this job, it’s very hard for me to be critical of Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott when I’m the one who, every single time a decision has been made around whether or not we focus on 50-over cricket, Test cricket or T20, I’ve always chosen Test cricket.
“That’s not their fault. So I feel like it’s harsh if I turn around and blame the captain and coach. Really, I hold myself at the top of that list for what’s gone wrong on this trip.”
Only six of England’s World Cup squad have been included in next month’s tour to the West Indies, which features uncapped seamers John Turner and Josh Tongue.
