Cricket: Cricket-End of brilliant white-ball era for England, says Hussain

(Reuters) – England’s dismal showing at the World Cup has been met with shock back home and marks the end of a brilliant era, according to former captain Nasser Hussain.

A crushing defeat by Sri Lanka on Thursday left the defending champions ninth out of 10 in the standings and with almost no chance of reaching the semi-finals.

England have lost four of their five matches, including one against Afghanistan, and face in-form India on Sunday.

It is a far cry from 2019 when Eoin Morgan’s England won the World Cup in an unforgettable final against New Zealand and the post-mortem has begun in earnest.

“We are talking about some of the greatest players in our white-ball history but this has just turned out to be a bridge too far for some of them,” Hussain told Sky Sports.

“I wouldn’t have changed the side before this tournament but I would definitely be thinking about changing it now because it does feel like the end of an era.

“That doesn’t take anything away from what this England side have achieved. We can be all doom and gloom and say ‘get rid of the lot of them’ but they have given us six or seven years of absolutely brilliant white-ball cricket.”

Questions are being asked about England’s preparation for the tournament and whether the lack of 50-over cricket played by the team’s key players undermined their chances of retaining their title.

Ben Stokes has not played a 50-over match in England since 2014 while captain Jos Buttler, whose position is coming under scrutiny, has not since 2016.

Hussain, however, says blaming the amount of T20 cricket now being played rather than the 50-over format is a cop-out.

“We say how great they are when they win two World Cups but when the wheels come off some blame the structure of English cricket,” he said.

“I’ve heard people at home are doing that but this is not the fault of the Hundred or the Blast or the fact England’s best players do not play much 50-over cricket. They are lame excuses.”

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)