'Don't See us as Defending Champions': Jos Buttler Says England in the Same Boat as Other Teams

Four years is a long time and skipper Jos Buttler believes that afterglow of winning the 2019 World Cup is long gone as his team is on the same boat as nine others ahead of the opener against New Zealand, starting Thursday.

At the ICC’s Captain’s Day event here, leaders of all 10 teams sat together for a chat ahead of the 48-game tournament to be played across 10 venues over the next 45 days, touching upon points such as pressure of expectations, their strengths and what they have learnt from the past editions.

Also Read: ICC World Cup ENG vs NZ Blog

“I don’t see us as defending champions. We’re very much in the same boat now as everybody sat here on the eve of the tournament trying to win it,” said England skipper Buttler.

“We feel ready. We’re very excited. We all know India is such a fantastic place to play cricket and we’re really excited about the tournament starting tomorrow,” he added.

His opposite number, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, who will miss the tournament-opener, feels that teams have gone through changes over the course of last four years.

“Like Jos mentioned, you sort of come to another event and everybody certainly starts from the same position and starts again,” he said.

“You go from tournament to tournament, teams change, opposition, conditions, so you know for us it’s very much focusing on the style of cricket that we want to keep committing to and give us the best chance of putting out our best performance,” Williamson said.

Australia’s Pat Cummins hoped that his side would be able to replicate performances of the champion teams from the past.

“Yeah, I can’t take too much credit for many (tournament wins) of them. There’s a couple of the boys that were there in 2015, which obviously gives us confidence,” he replied when asked about Australia’s successful record in World Cup history.

“We had a really strong year in the early 2000s. I think one-day cricket is a format that’s really suited Australian teams of the past,” he said.

The teams led by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting had all bases covered.

“Not only taking the game on with the batting and having some good quick bowlers, but even in the field, that early kind of 2000s era, I grew up watching. Yeah, they were amazing, really athletic. So hopefully we can carry it on. It’s a pretty good history we’ve had in World Cups. So hopefully another one,” Cummins added.