World Cup 2023: End of an era, admits England's Moeen Ali after horror show

England spinner Moeen Ali believes their exit from the Cricket World Cup could be end of an era. The 2019 champions won just one match from seven outings and Moeen acknowledged they had “not been good enough.” World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table England suffered their sixth defeat in seven matches at the hands of Australia in Ahmedabad on Saturday. It officially ended their slim chances of qualifying for the semi-finals and left them bottom of the 10-team standings. Jos Buttler’s struggling England started their title defence with a defeat to New Zealand at the same venue. Although they beat Bangladesh to give a glimmer of recovery, it proved to be their sole victory so far in a disastrous campaign.

A majority of England’s squad are in their 30s and unlikely to play in the next edition in 2027 as they look to rebuild. Asked if it was the end of a great 50-over team, the 36-year-old all-rounder Moeen responded: “Yeah, maybe.” The biggest cause for England’s dreadful campaign was the batting. It collapsed time and again, including against Australia on the day. They folded for 156 vs Sri Lanka, 129 against hosts India, 215 in a mighty upset by Afghanistan, and fell short again chasing Australia’s 286. “It’s just lack of confidence, especially in the batting department,” said Moeen. “The lack of runs, especially in a part of the world, where in India it can be nice to bat but it can be difficult, it’s probably a different approach, but we haven’t been good enough.” Over on the other end, the Chris Woakes-led bowling attack restricted Australia to 286 and contained India to 229/9, but England’s batters failed to capitalise each time. “The bowling has got better over the last two games in particular,” said Moeen. “But no positives really, we are bottom of the table with two points in a World Cup in which we expected to do better.” ‘Anything could happen’ Moeen tried to look to the future, recalling the 2015 World Cup debacle when Bangladesh knocked out Eoin Morgan’s England. They rebuilt to win their maiden 50-over World Cup at home four years ago and then triumphed in the T20 World Cup in Australia last year. “I look at it as an exciting time going forward because there are so many good players, we know they are coming,” Moeen said. “Anything could happen there are still another four years before the next World Cup. “Like 2015, we were terrible in the World Cup and we started again, almost started fresh and it can be exciting going forward.” Many of England’s current stars including Buttler (33), Ben Stokes (32) Dawid Malan (36) and Joe Root (32) are unlikely to feature in the 2027 edition to be hosted jointly by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. But rising stars such as Harry Brook offer hope of an England resurrection. On the topic of mental health in such dire times, Moeen said the players have stuck together. “The support is there if somebody is mentally struggling,” he told reporters. “The guys are very open and we are very close as a group of players and if somebody needs our support then it’s there for sure. These things could happen but it is a game of cricket, you try your best.”