England head coach Matthew Mott has rejected former captain Eoin Morgan’s suggestion that his team are “unsettled” behind the the scenes despite watching yet another heavy World Cup defeat.
Mott worked with Morgan when he took over the white-ball side 18 months ago, but the Irishman headed into retirement soon after, passing the baton to Jos Buttler.
As the man who led England’s World Cup triumph in 2019, Morgan’s word still carries plenty of weight and he has made some eye-catching observations about his old team-mates.
Speaking to Sky Sports prior to England’s 100-run loss to India in Lucknow, their fifth loss in six games of an abject title defence, he said the side were “definitely unsettled” and responded to the idea they were simply off form by saying “there’s something else going on, there has to be”.
Having then watched England’s latest collapse against the hosts, which kept them rooted to the foot of the table, Morgan said he would have laughed in the face of anyone who had predicted such a plight at the start of the tournament.
Responding to those comments after the latest setback, Mott said: “Eoin’s entitled to his opinion. He’s obviously been away (from India) for a couple of weeks with the birth of his child and he hasn’t been in and around the rooms.
“But I’ll certainly take that up with him and have a chat to him. We’ve got a really good relationship with him so if he’s seeing something I’m not I’ll definitely have that conversation.
“I don’t think that (is the case) at all. Anyone inside our tent at the moment would say, despite our results, we’re an incredibly tight-knit unit.
“There’s every opportunity when you’re losing to splinter and go other ways but I can only say from my opinion that the group has been incredibly strong.
“You see our training sessions and they are full of fun, people are putting their arms around each other trying to help them. It’s easy to do that when you’re winning but a lot harder when you’re losing and I’m proud we just keep trying to get up.”
Chris Woakes also stood up for the unity of the squad, telling Sky: “I can firmly say there is nothing wrong with the dressing room.”
Regardless of morale, there is no disguising just how badly things have gone for an England side who arrived as close second favourites and have since put together their worst ever run of form in a chequered history at the World Cup.
Things have got so bad that they have played their way into potentially missing out on a place at the next major 50-over global competition.
It has come to light that places at the 2025 Champions Trophy will be allocated based on performances in this competition, with hosts Pakistan joined by the seven highest finishers.
With three matches to go England sit in 10th spot, behind both the Netherlands and Bangladesh.
Remarkably, Mott admitted he was not aware the qualification process had moved away from its previous link to world rankings until media reports which landed midway through the India defeat.
The decision was ratified by the ICC board in November 2021, when the England and Wales Cricket Board was being led by previous chief executive Tom Harrison, but the information appears to have been waylaid in transition.
Asked in his post-match press conference when he learned about the potential Champions Trophy issue, Mott said: “About an hour-and-a-half ago.
“The ICC do change the rules quite a bit with qualification but to be honest I don’t think it would affect in any way the way we’ve played in this tournament, so it’s not a big deal.
“It’s plenty of motivation for us to pick ourselves back up off the canvas and keep trying to throw punches. It gives us a lot of focus that we need to make sure we can’t just ‘turn up’. We’ve got to win these games.”
Babar's captain's innings leads Pakistan to victory as series drawn with New Zealand
Babar Azam top scored as he led his Pakistan team to a nine-run victory over New Zealand in Lahore that saw the five-game T20I series end in a draw.
Babar hit 69 runs off 44 balls before being bowled by Ben Sears, smashing six fours and two sixes to take his team to 123/3 at the time of his dismissal.
Fakhar Zaman (43 from 33) and Usman Khan (31 off 24) also chipped in with important innings as Pakistan ended on 178/5.
With a target of 179 to secure a 3-1 series victory, New Zealand's run chase faltered almost immediately as opener Tom Blundell was removed within the first over with his team having managed just five runs on the board.
Blundell's fellow opener Tim Seifert steadied the ship with a vital 52-run innings off 33 deliveries before being bowled by Usama Mir, but Shaheen Shah Afridi led the way for Pakistan, finishing with figures of 4-30 to stem the New Zealand run chase
Josh Clarkson's 38 off 26 set up a nervy conclusion, but Pakistan held on to avoid defeat in the T20 series as the teams share the spoils at two wins apiece after the first game was abandoned.
Bayern star Kane scores 400th senior goal
Harry Kane surpassed the 400-goal mark for his senior career as his double helped Bayern Munich beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.
Kane moved within one of the milestone as he put Bayern 1-0 up after just nine minutes, coolly finishing from close range after Konrad Laimer's pass had set him up.
Then, after Frankfurt levelled through Hugo Ekitike, Kane slotted home a penalty with typical aplomb following a foul on Thomas Muller to move himself onto 400 career goals and ultimately lead Bayern to victory.
Kane scored 280 of his goals in 435 appearances for Tottenham, overtaking Jimmy Greaves to become the club's all-time leading scorer when he netted for the 267th time in Spurs colours against Manchester City last February.
His tally of 213 Premier League goals, meanwhile, puts him just 47 behind the competition's all-time leader Alan Shearer, who scored 260 times for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.
Kane is also the most prolific player in England's history, his 62 goals for the Three Lions coming in 89 international appearances.
He memorably missed the chance to surpass Wayne Rooney's previous record of 53 when he blazed a penalty over the crossbar in the Three Lions' quarter-final defeat to France at the 2022 World Cup, only to clinch his place in history in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy three months later.
The very first goal of Kane's senior career came in League One during a loan spell with Leyton Orient as they thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 in January 2011.
That was the first of five goals Kane scored in O's colours, while he also netted nine times in a loan spell with Millwall in 2011-12 and twice during a stint with Leicester City the following season.
IPL: Fraser-McGurk leads the way as Capitals hold off Mumbai
Delhi Capitals withstood Mumbai Indian’s late surge and held on for a 10-run victory at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Jake Fraser-McGurk top-scored with 84 – hitting 50 off just 15 balls – while Tristan Stubbs (48) and Shai Hope (41) also chipped in with important contributions as the Capitals set a target of 258.
Mukesh Kumar (3/59) and Rasikh Salam (3/34) did their best to halt Mumbai’s revival, but they turned up the pressure to require 25 runs from the final over.
However, despite Luke Wood and Piyush Chawla’s best efforts, Delhi held out for a second successive win.
Data debrief
Wood almost made amends after conceding 68 runs during the opening innings – the joint-most in the IPL this season, matching Reece Topley’s tally against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Tilak Varma led Mumbai’s attempted revival with 63 for his sixth half-century in the IPL, though they have all come in defeats
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