Big Comment/ 'It’s over now. It has hurt us dearly. We saved our worst form when needed most': England coach

After England's eight-wicket loss to Sri Lanka on October 26, coach Matthew Mott stated that it is difficult to explain why his team is having trouble at the World Cup 2023. England's World Cup hopes were severely damaged as they lost to Sri Lanka by an overwhelming eight wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. They now have four losses in 5 matches, pushing their prospects of making it to the semifinals at a staggering low.

3 things you need to know

• England lost to Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in match number 25 
• England have lost 4 out of the 5 matches they have played
• Sri Lanka have found life in the campaign after winning two on the trot

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Matthew Mott distraught after England's loss to Sri Lanka 

Speaking after the match, Mott said he is unsure of what has hit the England team. They headed to India with utmost confidence after series win against New Zealand. The England coach did shed light on the fact that some players lost their touch at the wrong time, which has invited trouble.

"Not great. Coming into this match, we knew it was do or die. I thought we started really well with the bat, looked quite positive. But we kept losing wickets in quick succession and we were at least 100-120 short of a good score on that wicket. I don't know [what's going wrong]. I've had a quick chat with Jos; it's really hard to explain. We had a good series leading into this against New Zealand. We came over here full of confidence with some world-class players who have won World Cups. But for whatever reason, we seem to have a few players out of form at the wrong time and it has hurt us dearly," Mott told Sky Sports.

“As I said the last time we caught up, they don’t happen very often these World Cups. We’ve unfortunately saved our worst form for when we needed it the most and it’s going to be a very somber dressing room tonight,” Mott said during a press conference. 

“Yeah, it’s over now, I think. I’m not a mathematician, but with our net run-rate and too many teams who are going to take games off each other, we have to come to terms with that. From now we’re playing for a lot of pride,” Mott then told BBC. 

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England vs Sri Lanka CWC 2023: Match summary

After opting to bat first, England got off to a good start but it all changed with the flurry of wickets. The innings remained elusive of a decent partnership and hence a penurious total of 156 was attained. While it seemed a formality in the mid-innings break but England bowlers did strike a couple of early blows to infuse excitement in the match. However, it was short-lived as Pathum Nissanka (77) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (65) constructed a well-compiled 137 to seize the victory by 8 wickets.