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After England were knocked out of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023, captain Jos Buttler admitted that his own performance is the biggest concern and said the defending champions' exit from the marquee event is a low point for him.
England's title defence ended on a bitter note after Australia bowled them out short of the target of 287 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday. Buttler, who led England to triumph in the 20-over World Cup in Australia last year, said his own performance throughout the ongoing tournament is his greatest respect. "My own form has been the biggest concern coming into the tournament. I have not played as well as I can in such a pivotal role, my own performance with the bat has hurt us," Butter was quoted as saying by Skysports. "It's certainly a low point. I've had a few but definitely as a captain, to be in this position when you arrive in India with very high hopes is incredibly tough. We certainly haven't done ourselves justice. Coming into the tournament we fancy ourselves to have a real go at it and push whoever it was going to be all the way. It's incredibly tough, you know, to reach those highs," he added. "Everyone knows how much hard work goes into that. And even when you come up short, there's so much hard work that goes into that. We've let ourselves down. We've let people down at home the people who support us through thick and thin," the England captain said. The 2019 world champions will be eligible for the ICC Champions Trophy if they finish in the top seven of the World Cup table, which requires them to win their next two games against the Netherlands and Pakistan in order to move up from tenth place. "The only way you can get back into form or start winning games again is to front up and go again, you have to keep putting in the hard work as individuals and believing that it's not far away. The longer it goes on, the closer you are to coming out the other side of it," Buttler added. England's Moeen Ali also conceded that the team has not been good enough since the start of their campaign, when they were stunned by New Zealand in the World Cup opener. "It's very disappointing. We just haven't been good enough from the start and today showed the lack of confidence in the side. I thought we were a little bit better tonight, we had the better of the conditions and we know that we should have won this game tonight. These things do happen in cricket," Moeen said. England will next face the Netherlands at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. (ANI)
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