England captain Jos Buttler on Saturday conceded the loss to South Africa by 229 runs — their biggest in history of ODI cricket — leaves the reigning champions in a desperate race to qualify for the semifinals of the ongoing World Cup.
England were bundled out for an embarrassing 170 for nine with their number 11 not available to bat due to an injury, after South Africa posted a 400-run target here in the World Cup game.
"A really tough defeat to take. Obviously, we were disappointed in Delhi (loss to the Afghanistan) and had a good few days and worked really hard and did a lot of things hoping to put it right today, but it did not work out,” Buttler told the media here after England’s biggest ODI loss ever.
"We have not left ourselves any margin from this point on" - Jos Buttler
Buttler agreed that it will be very difficult from this point to qualify for the semi-finals.
"It is going to be incredibly difficult. We have not left ourselves any margin from this point on. But we will keep the belief," he conceded.
"It certainly leaves us in a tough position. There is no room for error from hereon in. That is going to be incredibly tough, but we will sit down and go again. That is all you can do in this situation,” Buttler added.
South Africa hammered 143 runs in the last 10 overs whereas 84 came in the last 30 balls, which, according to Buttler, was too much to take.
"I think getting up to 400 was an excellent score, it sort of took the wind away from us and it was always going to be tough from there, we needed everything to go perfect to pull off a chase like that,” he said.
However, the England captain was confident that his team still has the belief to turn its fortunes around after succumbing to their second straight defeat in the last three matches.
"Some fantastic players (are) there (in the camp) and even though it is going to be a tough ask, there is still belief in the dressing room. You know, we would need everything to sort of go right to pull off a chase like that,” he said.
"I thought it was the right one" - Jos Buttler on toss decision
The skipper defended his decision to field first on a batting belter.
"It is a decision I took at the time. I thought it was the right one and I still believe if we were chasing 340, 350, we would have done really well in those conditions." Buttler said with dismissals like Joe Root’s — caught at the leg-slip off a pacer while trying to get runs down the ground — could lead to a sinking feeling in the group.
"Getting things caught down the leg side, caught leg slip, those kinds of dismissals, it sort of feels like it's not going to be your day,” he said.
England have now slipped to 9th in the standings and will next face Sri Lanka on October 25th in Bengaluru.
