England's semi-final defeat against India in Guyana capped off their second consecutive unsuccessful white-ball tournament following the 2022 T20 World Cup triumph, which came under the same captain-coach pairing.
At the 2023 ODI World Cup, England only managed to win three games out of nine and finished seventh on the points table. In the Caribbean, they qualified for the semis, but were comprehensively beaten by India by 68 runs. Among the seven non-rained out matches they played, England won only four, with only one of those victories coming against Full Member nations.
Key non-committal on captain and coach's future
Following the defeat, there have been calls to do away with the Buttler-Mott captain-coach pairing in England's limited-overs setup.
Attending a virtual press conference after the announcement of the Test squad to face West Indies, Key refused to commit to the futures of Buttler and Mott, neither confirming nor denying whether they'd continue in the white-ball setup in the same capacity.
England have crashed out of the T20 World Cup after a comprehensive 68-run semi-final defeat to India 😬
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) June 27, 2024
They finish the tournament with just one win in four games against Full Member nations.
How would you rate their campaign? 🤔#T20WorldCup #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/UZrqDLMfi2
"In terms of the T20 World Cup, we've sort of moved on at this point into the Test team," Key said. "I am not going to rush anything on that [decision on Buttler and Mott's futures], but like we always do, we'll start looking at what's the best way for that white-ball team to move forward. And that will start probably in a couple of weeks' time.
"All these things, when I get around to it in the next few weeks, then I'll start working out, to be honest...The World T20 finished, we still had players out in the Caribbean. So we'll let the dust settle on that and move forward from there."
Key: Not a disgrace to lose to India
Speaking on England's T20 World Cup campaign, Key said that while were inconsistent, there wasn't "any disgrace" in losing to India.
"I don't think it's a bad sign when you get into a semi-final and you're almost slightly disappointed with that as I sort of imagine almost everyone is [including] players, coaching staff. At times I thought we showed how good we were in there and at times we were inconsistent.
"And I don't think it's any disgrace really to lose to India. I think they are very much the mark now. They have been the best team in world cricket across all formats for a couple of years now and everyone else is chasing them, along with Australia, South Africa. I thought that was a game (the semi-final) we could have won as well, which would have put us in a slightly different position."
For now, focus shifts to the upcoming three-match Test series against the West Indies, starting on July 10. The first Test at Lord's is also going to be James Anderson's last international game as he has announced his retirement.
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