Cricket World Cup 2023: Jos Buttler says he is determined to remain England captain despite struggles

Jos Buttler says he is determined to stay on as England captain despite a shambolic defeat by Sri Lanka which all but ends his team's World Cup defence.

England were bowled out for 156 in Bengaluru in an eight-wicket thrashing - their fourth defeat in five games.

Buttler apologised to England fans for their showing and said the players are "shocked" by their struggles.

"I have a lot of confidence and belief in myself as a captain and leader - and as a player," Buttler said.

"You're always questioning how you can get the best out of players and get the team moving in the right direction.

"But if you're asking if I should still be captain of the team, that's a question for the guys above me."

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Asked if he was determined to remain as captain, Buttler, who led England to victory in the T20 World Cup last year, answered: "Yes."

The defending champions were thrashed by nine wickets in their tournament opener against New Zealand, beat Bangladesh in their second match but have since been shocked by Afghanistan and hammered by a record margin by South Africa prior to their latest defeat on Thursday.

They are not mathematically out of the competition but must win all of their remaining games, including against unbeaten hosts India on Sunday, and hope an unlikely set of results go their way.

Their impending exit will mark the end of an era for a side which became the first to hold the men's 50 and 20-over World Cups at the same time.

"I'll go back to the changing room and look at the players sat there and think, 'how have we got ourselves into this position with the talent and the skill that's in the room?'" said Buttler, who took over from 2019 World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan last June.

"But it's the position we're in, it's the reality of what's happened over the last three weeks.

"It's a huge low point."

England won the last 50-over World Cup after increasing the emphasis on white-ball cricket throughout the four-year build-up.

But in the past four years they have played less than half as many one-day internationals, while England's domestic 50-over competition is now largely played by county fringe players at the same time as The Hundred.

Buttler, though, refused to blame the schedule for England's struggles.

"As players, the schedules are the schedules and we've got a lot of things in our favour," he said.

"We've got a lot of support from the coaches within the environment, fantastic support from our fans as a country and we've let them all down.

"It's been a disappointing few weeks and a shock to perform as we have with the team that we do have.

"I don't think there is any blame elsewhere, except with ourselves, and as captain you feel that the most."

'We're going to cop it, and quite rightly'

Head coach Matthew Mott became England's white-ball coach last May and guided the team to the T20 World Cup title last year.

Since he took over England have lost 50-over series against India, Australia and South Africa but beat Bangladesh and New Zealand this year.

But, the poor performances in this tournament are likely to lead to scrutiny over his position.

"We're gutted," Mott told BBC Test Match Special. "We were outplayed today. That performance was not where we need to be.

"We've got some serious soul searching to do, we're going to cop it, we know that and quite rightly, we didn't perform anywhere near our level. I still think we have a team good enough to win this tournament, but clearly we haven't put it together when it matters. Unfortunately we're out of form at a very bad time for us."

Asked whether he thinks their tournament is over, he replied: "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.

"We've got a lot to do there, we feel like we've let our fans down, our families and supporters and everyone in that dressing room, we haven't put our best foot forward and in professional sport that's what you're judged on."

Before taking the England job Mott had never led a men's international team, but had coached a dominant Australia women's side to the Ashes, 50-over and 20-over world titles.

Asked if he wants to lead England to next year's T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies he said it was a "great challenge".

"A lot of things happen for a reason and you can look from within and try and get better," he added.

"We've got a lot of really good leaders in that dressing room, it's going to take all that leadership to get us through this World Cup given we're not playing for the trophy anymore.

"We've got to play to restore a bit of pride, we've got to play to get better everyday."

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