"Brendon McCullum And Ben Stokes Responsible For England's World Cup Drubbing.."- Rob Key

England Team Director Rob Key has taken responsibility for the England team’s poor show in the ICC World Cup 2023. Rob Key said that he focussed more on Tests than ODIs and it is one of the reasons for England’s debacle in the tournament.

England won the World Cup in the 2019 edition. However, the defending champions had a poor show in the ICC World Cup 2023, winning just 3 games out of 9. With 6 points, the Jos Buttler-led side finished in the 7th spot in the points table and remained far away from the semis.

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I Hold Myself Accountable For England’s Poor Show: Team Director Rob Key

While speaking to reporters after England’s final game against Pakistan in ICC World Cup 2023, Rob Key took the responsibility for England’s failure on himself. He also added that he set up a coaching team that had less experience with Indian conditions.

“It’s very hard for me to be critical of Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott, when I’m the one who, every single time the decision has been made for whether or not we focus on 50-over cricket, test cricket or T20, I’ve always chosen test cricket”.

“I hold myself accountable for a lot of it. I’ve set up a coaching team that had no local experience, really. I feel like it’s harsh if I turn around and blame the captain and coach when I hold myself accountable for that”, Rob Key said.

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Rob Key also added that Bazball made life harder for the ODI team. He also feels that the team will learn from their poor show in the World Cup.

“Something that makes life harder for them is that people talk about Bazball. I feel this actually should be the making of those two as a partnership. If it isn’t, it isn’t and you move on. But we have to make sure some good comes out of what has been a very poor World Cup”, he further added.

While England was dubbed as one of the favorites to reach the semi-finals, they were among the worst-performing teams. Jos Buttler & Co. also lost to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, something which came as a big surprise to many cricket fans.