Crestfallen England aim to ‘win and win well’
England's title defence has not gone as planned but the reigning champions still have plenty to play for during their final two matches of the ongoing ICC World Cup. The defending champions will take on the Netherlands in their penultimate match of the tournament at the MCA International Stadium in Pune today.
With just one win from their opening seven matches, England are already out of contention for the semi-finals but they are now fighting for a top-eight finish to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
The Netherlands, however, do still have an outside chance of finishing in the top four and will need to win their last two and have other results go their way to have any chance of sneaking into the semi-finals.
But a spot in the ICC Champions Trophy is surely also a prime motivation for the Dutch and a win over England here will put them one step closer to achieving this.
England sit at the bottom of the table, two points behind ninth-placed Netherlands.
England fielding coach Carl Hopkinson said on Tuesday that England have not been able to execute their plans under pressure in India.
Their star-studded batting lineup, which includes the likes of captain Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Joe Root, has managed just a single 200-plus total in the last four outings.
"I think cricket can be a game of - It's about executing under pressure, isn't it? Everybody knows that, and I think this team has been well known for doing that really, really well," Hopkinson said.
"It's an incredibly skilful team, a very talented team, but at key moments in certain situations, we haven't executed under pressure like we normally do.
"It's not to say that lads aren't trying to do that in practice, they obviously are, but we haven't got that right in key moments and I think that's something that we can definitely improve on."
When asked what the four-year plan from here is to put things right, Hopkinson said: "I think first and foremost we have to think about what's coming tomorrow. I think anything that comes after that is what comes after that.
"We need to be thinking about tomorrow, we need to be thinking about Pakistan because we've got two very important games in which we need to win and win well to qualify for the Champions Trophy, which is what we need to do."
Statbox:
*The Netherlands are yet to win an ODI against England following six matches, three of which were World Cup encounters.
*The last time the two sides faced off in the World Cup, coinciding with their solitary meet in India, was back in 2011 in Nagpur where the Dutch suffered a six-wicket loss despite scoring 292 for six in 50 overs.
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