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Following England’s T20 World Cup elimination, Rob Key will have to make the greatest decision of his managing director career. Although Matthew Mott’s team was expected to at least make it to the semi-finals, the way India crushed them by 68 runs in Guyana threatens his job as head coach for white-ball cricket during a rare gap in the World Cup cycle.
Two years into a four-year deal, Mott reaffirmed on Thursday that he is the ideal player to lead England’s forwards. Six months into his job, his team won the most recent T20 World Cup, but they badly performed in the 50-over World Cup in India the previous year. Even though they advanced to the final four in the Caribbean, they only triumphed over one Test-playing rival during the entire competition.
ICC competitions are now yearly occasions, although the men’s white-ball World Cup will not be held in 2019 for the first time in five years. The Champions Trophy is set to take place in February, but that is the least significant competition on the programme. Following their loss in the semi-final on Thursday, England will take a 10-week break before playing Australia in their next limited-overs series in September.
Key will have a number of questions to address when he evaluates this World Cup. Is Mott able to breathe new life into a side that seems to have stagnated? Is England really progressing under Mott’s direction? If not, is there a clear substitute? Would they be willing to face the scrutiny of working in a position where losing in the World Cup semifinals is grounds for firing?
Similar scrutiny will be applied to Jos Buttler’s role as captain, although it might be his choice rather than Key’s. Buttler’s accomplishments are so great that he could easily give up playing for the national team and make a good living on the franchise circuit for the next five years. England needs Buttler far more than Buttler needs England, as Key is no well aware.
There’s still a feeling that England has lost its charm. A chaotic schedule that leaves Mott without access to his players for months at a time hasn’t helped him either, and even after two years on the job, it’s still unclear what his players’ identities are. They are currently going through a transitional period, and Key needs to determine if Mott has a clear idea of what will happen next.
Buttler is planning a short break before that tournament starts, and will use the time off to take stock. “You take some time to review tournaments and try to plan ahead for the next [one],” he said. “What we need to do better as a team, if that is the way we play, personnel, style of cricket… we will review everything and come up with a plan.”
It is Key who will ultimately sign off on what that plan looks like – and English cricket needs him to get it right.