There was nothing dignified about England’s pasting in Mumbai.

Even when things could’ve been going worse, they were already pretty bad. From Reece Topley hurling a chair walking back to the dressing room with a busted digit before lobbing God knows what at the sensibly reinforced dressing room glass – to Adil Rashid being forced to bowl ten overs in between nipping off to be sick. Some kind of penance for being England’s least replaceable player.

Right from the start, nothing felt right. England dropped three of their all-rounders from the XI that was thumped by Afghanistan, replacing two of them with specialists. Leaving out Chris Woakes and Sam Curran was fair enough after the runs they both conceded in the first three games of the tournament. Liam Livingstone’s absence could also be somewhat justified, given the lack of runs he’s scored so far. But with David Willey batting at seven and only Joe Root to compensate should one of their bowlers go for runs again, the balance against the most explosive batting side in the tournament felt off.

That was compounded when, in the hottest conditions of the tournament yet and with little to no leeway in his bowling attack, Jos Buttler chose to bowl first. Perhaps it was the dew that persuaded him. Perhaps it was, as he said at the toss, that the Wankhede is “a good ground for chasing”. A brief look at the data shows that, of the 23 previous ODIs played at the ground, 12 of them were won by the team fielding first. Whatever data Buttler was looking at or whatever feeling he had, he would have done better to look at the clear facts in front of him.

England last successfully chased in an ODI in March 2021. Their batting lineup has required the limpest application of pressure to collapse so far in the competition. In oppressive heat, they had one spinner suffering from sickness, two exceptionally fragile seamers, and the other two playing their first World Cup game, with no mitigation for any of them having a bad day. Both times South Africa have batted first in this tournament, they’ve scored over 300. Bat first, Jos.

Once Topley went off, the warning sirens were already wailing. By the time Reeza Hendricks decided it was time to go for Root, knowing full well England were faced with the alternative of either Dawid Malan or Harry Brook and South Africa already at 140-2, those sirens had reached a banshee screech. If only there was a spinning all-rounder, with an economy rate of less than five in the tournament so far, that Buttler could’ve turned to.

A blitz from South Africa at the end of the innings means England will have to chase a staggering 400 to win.#CWC2023 #ENGvsSA pic.twitter.com/797RcYzQfJ

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) October 21, 2023

That they managed to pull it back into a position where they could faced with a somewhat chaseable target at 15 overs to go was remarkable in itself. But, while Heinrich Klaasen’s innings deserves all the plaudits, yet again England’s decision-making and execution takes some of the credit.

With the world’s most in-form innings finisher set at the crease with a ten-over bash ahead of him, it was time to move to death-con one. To be clear, death-con one isn’t bringing back your medium pace left-arm swing bowler with a ball that looks like it’s spent an hour with Mumbai’s stray dog population, who can barely move from cramp. The eight-ball over he bowled when brought back included a waist-high no-ball sent for six.

Atkinson had overs in the bank and, in the grand scheme of things, he hadn’t been expensive earlier in the innings. Despite never having done the role in his three previous ODI caps, out of Willey and Topley – with his taped fingers offering little control – he was Buttler’s best option to turn to.

By the time Atkinson was brought on, it was too late. Klaasen already had his hundred and the total was unchaseable. Wood, England’s most established death bowler, was promptly taken off with three overs left in his spell after conceding three boundaries from his last over. Topley was brought back on, seemingly in the hope that his plastered finger gave him some sort of secret advantage unknown to us mere watchers. 26 runs in a seven-ball over later, maybe not?

Still, chasing 400, what you really want is someone with ten first-class hundreds in at No.8, just below the guy who hobbled off the field with cramp two minutes ago. In the end, England’s day and the decisions they made were summed up best by Nasser Hussain just after their sixth wicket went down. “A very odd day for England, very odd.” It was nice of him to try and be kind.

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