World Cup 2023: 'Hurts a lot,' says captain Jos Buttler as champions England crash out of tournament

England captain Jos Buttler said the defeat against Australia at the ongoing World Cup in India was a low point in his captaincy. England crashed out of the tournament after succumbing to a sixth lossas Australia won the match by 33 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday (Nov 4) evening.

Speaking at the post-match conference, Buttler wore a dejected look and said he was disappointed due to the loss.

"Disappointment, we are having the same chat after the match. Improvements today, more with the bat, but we were still well short, no complaints if you lose by 30 runs," said Buttler.

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"Certainly low point, definitely as a captain to be stood in this position, had high hopes but incredibly disappointing, hurts a lot. We certainly haven't done ourselves enough justice, coming into the tournament, we fancied ourselves to do well to go all the way, there's so much hard work but we let ourselves down and people back home," he added.

Buttler said his poor form with the bat was one of the reasons why England struggled in the tournament.

"I haven't played as well as I can, in such a pivotal position, I think I let myself and my team down. Only way to come back is to put in the hard yards at the nets and come back better in the next game."

Adam Zampa's brilliance downs England

While England struggled, Australia played a total game despite lagging behind in certain phases of the match, especially in the first half.

Adam Zampa was adjudged the Player of the Match for his brilliant performance with the bat and the ball. The leg-spinner said dew played a part in the match but he stuck to his line and lengths.

"Just summing up the condition was really important, I thought we put up a good competitive total on the board, but it was always going to be tough to defend, ground got really wet, for me length control and attacking the stumps was important, length control was really satisfying."

With the win, Australia have given themselves the much-needed cushion to qualify for the knockouts. They are comfortably perched at the third spot on the points table with five wins in seven games and would require another victory to seal a place in the semis.

(With inputs from agencies)