‘It hurts a lot… Feels like we’ve let people down’: Jos Buttler after defending champs England are shown the door

After Saturday's defeat, England skipper Jos Buttler offered a glimpse into the hurt that the team was experiencing.

England's Jos Buttler in action before losing his wicket, caught by Australia's Cameron Green off the bowling of Adam Zampa REUTERS

England's Jos Buttler is seen just before losing his wicket against Australia on Saturday. (PHOTO: REUTERS)

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Defending champions England’s wafer-thin chances of making it to the semi-finals of the ongoing Cricket World Cup were snuffed out after they lost by 33 runs to Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Batting second, the team was chasing 287 for a win on Saturday. Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne (71 runs), Cameron Green (47) and Steve Smith (44) helped the five-time champions to a modest total of 286 runs.

In response, four English batters — Ben Stokes (64), Dawid Malan (50), Moeen Ali (42) and Chris Woakes (32) — got off to starts, but they couldn’t drag England home.

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The team has long conceded that they are not going to make the semis, but have been eyeing a spot at the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 (Top seven in World Cup and hosts Pakistan get to play in that competition). But even that has become a distance dream with the English team losing six out of their seven matches to be moored at the bottom of the 10-team standings.

After Saturday’s defeat, England skipper Jos Buttler offered a glimpse into the hurt that the team was experiencing.

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“This hurts a lot. We certainly haven’t done ourselves justice. We wanted to have a real go at it. Incredibly tough to reach those highs (winning the title in 2019). Everyone knows the work that goes into that. It feels like we’ve let people down. You wear that on your own shoulders,” a crestfallen Buttler said at the post-match presentation.

“I thought we could have been better chasing 287. I think my own form has been the biggest concern. I came in a great place, but my own form has really hurt us.”