Jos Buttler accepted his future as England captain was out of his hands after another painful defeat sent his side tumbling towards the World Cup exit door.
England knew nothing less than victory over Sri Lanka would be enough to keep alive their fading hopes of reaching the semi-finals and they responded with arguably their worst performance yet in a campaign littered with low points.
After choosing to bat first, they were skittled for a meagre 156 in 33.2 overs, then watched as their opponents cantered home by eight wickets in Bangalore with almost half of the innings unused.
The thrashing, which followed heavy losses to New Zealand, Afghanistan and South Africa, left the reigning champions ninth in the standings with an eye-watering net run-rate.
With four games to go – including table-topping India and bitter rivals Australia – they are being kept off bottom spot by the only associate nation at the competition, the Netherlands.
Remarkably, England are not yet mathematically out with four games to play, but the route is fanciful in the extreme and Buttler acknowledged the game was up.
“It certainly looks that way and that’s incredibly disappointing. It would need a few miracles,” he said, glassy-eyed after another draining day.
“You get on the plane with high hopes and a lot of confidence and belief that we can challenge for the title, so to be sat here now with the three weeks we’ve had is a shock. It’s a shock to everyone.
“I’ll walk back in the dressing room after this, look at the players sat there and think ‘how have we found ourselves in this position with the talent and the skill that’s in the room’?
“But it is the position we’re in, it’s the reality of what’s happened over the last three weeks and that’s a huge low point.”
Pressed on his own status in charge of the side Buttler indicated a desire to continue but a realisation that the verdict may not be his to make.
In reality, England do not have an obvious successor lined up and Buttler is relatively new in the role, having inherited the mantle following Eoin Morgan’s retirement last summer.
He also has a T20 World Cup win in the bank and there has been no indication that managing director of the men’s cricket, Rob Key, has an itchy trigger finger.
“I think you’re always questioning as captain how you can get the best out of players, how you can get the team moving in the right direction,” Buttler admitted.
“I certainly have a lot of confidence and belief in myself as a leader and captain and first and foremost as a player, but if you’re asking if I should still be captaining the team, that’s a question for the guys above me.
“The tournament’s gone nowhere near the way we wanted it to…that much is obvious. As a leader, you want to lead through your own performance and I’ve not been able to do that.”
Head coach Matthew Mott joined Buttler in writing off the chances of sneaking through to the last four, telling BBC Sport: “Yeah, it’s over now, I think.
“I’m not a mathematician, but with our net run-rate and too many teams who are going to take games off each other, we have to come to terms with that. From now we’re playing for a lot of pride.
“We feel like we’ve let our fans down, our families and supporters and everyone in that dressing room, we haven’t put our best foot forward and in professional sport, that’s what you’re judged on.”
Phil Simmons appointed as interim head coach of Bangladesh
Former West Indies all-rounder Phil Simmons has been appointed as interim coach of Bangladesh until the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
The 61-year-old is replacing Chandika Hathurusinghe, who has been suspended by the Bangladesh Cricket Board on disciplinary grounds.
Hathurusinghe has been suspended for 48 hours and is to be "terminated immediately" after that period and has also been served a show-cause notice by the board.
"Hathurusinghe has two counts of misconduct," BCB president Faruque Ahmed said.
"First is about an assault on a player. Secondly, he took too many leaves, more than what was in his contract."
This will be Simmons’ fifth international coaching job including stints as West Indies men’s head coach from 2015-2016 and 2019-2022.
Ghulam stars on debut as Pakistan start strong
Pakistan's Kamran Ghulam was in a defiant mood on debut as he frustrated England on day one of the second Test.
After their collapse in the second innings following England's show of force with the bat in Multan last week, Pakistan were looking for a response on Tuesday.
And on the same pitch as the first Test, which offered even less for the seamers but some joy for the spinners, Ghulam starred with a sublime knock of 118 as Pakistan reached stumps on 259-5.
Abdullah Shafique went for seven in the eighth over before Ghulam put on a third-wicket partnership of 149 with Saim Ayub, who made 77 before he was sent packing by Matthew Potts.
Shan Masood fell to Jack Leach (2-92), while Brydon Carse (1-14) picked up the wicket of Saud Shakeel before Ghulam was eventually bowled by Shoaib Bashir (1-66).
England captain Ben Stokes bowled five overs on his return but will be hoping for more luck on day two, with Mohammad Rizwan (37 not out) and Salman Agha (five not out) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Pakistan bounce back
England are undefeated in eight Tests against Pakistan (W6 D2), while the hosts have lost their last six matches in the longest format.
Another loss would be their longest losing run in Tests, but with Ghulam leading the way, they have made a great start in avoiding that fate.
There is plenty of time to go for England, who are hunting their first back-to-back victories in away Test matches since February 2023.
Japan 1-1 Australia: Own goals see points shared in World Cup qualifying
An own goal at either end saw Japan and Australia draw 1-1 in the third round of World Cup qualifying on Tuesday.
Australia's stuttering start to qualifying continued, as Cameron Burgess bundled into his own net as the visitors failed to hold onto their lead.
It was all Japan in the opening stages, but despite their first-half dominance, they struggled to create an opening, with only Ritsu Doan testing Joe Gauci.
Australia, whose only shot came in the seventh minute, took the lead against the run of play – Lewis Miller's low cross was turned into the back of the net by Shogo Taniguchi, who should have done better with the clearance.
Japan got their own slice of luck in the 76th minute though, as Keito Nakamura weaved his way down the left to the byline before pulling it back into the middle, and Gauci could not keep out Burgess' attempted block.
The hosts attempted to push for a late winner, but Australia sat deep to protect what could prove a crucial point against another of Asia's best teams.
Data Debrief: Firing blanks
It was far from a classic, with both teams offering little in terms of attacking threat. In fact, Australia did not manage a single shot on target, only logging one overall.
Indeed, their expected goals (xG) tells the story, with Australia mustering just 0.01, in contrast to Japan's 0.76, which came from 12 shots, and only three of those were on target.
Taniguchi's own goal is the fourth that Australia have benefitted from in 2024, while only in 2018 have they ever recorded more such goals (five).
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