Rob Key stated he must be blamed “greater than anybody” for England’s failure on the World Cup as a result of he prioritised Test matches over the 50-over format.
The defending champions completed seventh out of 10, with their hopes of reaching the semi-finals ended by six defeats in their first seven video games.
Key defended captain Jos Buttler and gave coach Matthew Mott his “full backing”, conceding he had not allowed them to arrange with their finest staff.
“That’s not their fault,” Key stated.
“I really feel prefer it’s harsh if I flip round and blame the captain and coach after I maintain myself accountable for that.”
England’s managing director spoke at size to the media on Sunday morning, 12 hours after England exited the World Cup with a comfort victory towards Pakistan in Kolkata.
While giving a a purposeful defence of Buttler and Mott, Key admitted England had “obtained lots fallacious” in India, misplaced their id and “overthought” tactical selections.
Since successful the T20 World Cup in November final 12 months, the one time Mott and Buttler had their full-strength 50-over facet accessible was in a sequence towards New Zealand in September.
For sequence towards Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh, gamers who play in each the Test and white-ball groups had been chosen for the red-ball format when there was a conflict in the schedule.
“It’s exhausting for me to be vital of Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott when I’m the one who, each single time the choice has been made for whether or not or not we focus on 50-over cricket, Test cricket or T20, I’ve at all times chosen Test cricket,” admitted Key.
Having gained the World Cup in 2019, England got here into this event among the many favourites however they had been backside of the desk till wins over the Netherlands and Pakistan in the ultimate week.
“I made the error of pondering that really will probably be alright after we get there and that is not been the case,” Key stated.
“You type of made the belief that, with out enjoying plenty of 50-over cricket, really that is such a great staff that may simply slip into outdated habits and away we go.”
‘We underestimated circumstances’
Key admitted England “overthought” vital selections.
After dew aided New Zealand’s chase in England’s opener, Buttler opted to bat second on a gradual pitch in Delhi and had been spun out by Afghanistan spinners.
Their victories in the ultimate two video games got here once they batted first and scored greater than 330 runs.
“You have a look at the way in which that the final couple of video games we performed, if we gained the toss, we had a bat,” Key stated.
“We did not know that at first. We weren’t married to a means of what was our greatest technique to go about issues and that was due at occasions to a number of overthinking.
“We nearly most likely felt like we have got a great understanding of issues right here, when the dew comes down after which it really turns into simpler to bat.
“But that wasn’t the case for those who did not get by to the dew, for those who had been six or seven down by that point. So I believe we underestimated how robust it was going to be in these circumstances and we obtained lots fallacious.”
‘We wanted native data to tell us about Mumbai warmth’
Their most evident mistake got here once they selected to chase towards South Africa, thus subjecting themselves to fielding in the worst of Mumbai’s 37.4 levels centigrade warmth and excessive humidity.
Key stated they’d have benefited from a coach with “native data” in the dressing room.
“When you get to someplace like Mumbai, and all of it appears so easy now, you are anxious about dew and all of these items,” Key stated.
“Actually somebody who is aware of these circumstances very well says ‘by the way in which, it is hotter than the solar on the market; be sure to have a bat’.
“We obtained so caught up in what was going to occur 5 or 6 hours down the road.”
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