Hussain slammed Jos Buttler and co. after 229 runs loss to South Africa in Mumbai.
South Africa were put into bat first after England captain Jos Buttler won the toss, a decision that proved to be wrong. Heinrich Klaasen scored 109 and added 151 runs for the 6th wicket with Marco Jansen (75*). Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen also scored fifties as South Africa posted 399/7.
In response, England was reduced to 100/8 in the 17th over. 43* from Mark Wood and 35 from Gus Atkinson helped England put 170 on the board. They still lost by 229 runs, their biggest defeat in ODI World Cups.
Nasser Hussain was livid with Jos Buttler and England team management’s choice-making and decisions off the field. England made three changes for the game, replacing Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, and Chris Woakes with Ben Stokes, David Willey, and Gus Atkinson.
"England keep getting their decisions wrong. We got the toss and the balance of the side was wrong. The three changes in the squad moved England completely away from how they had been playing for years.
Woakes had no rhythm and on a flat pitch you leave him out and bring Stokes in, I agree with that decision. What I don't like is the toss decision and reliance on stats. England need to get the decisions they're making off the field right. The quality of performance was not good enough, but get your decision-making right off the field,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.
"I hear a lot about statistics, and Eoin Morgan used statistics, but there was a lot of gut feeling there too. You need to get your decisions right, don't just go to your default settings. Desperate for a win to stay alive in the competition, England faces India, Australia, and Pakistan in their next few games.
England now needs to win seven games on the bounce to defend the World Cup, but they don't look like a side that could do that at the moment. If they want to win every game from now, they need to get their decision-making right,” he added.
With this huge loss, England is now placed in 9th spot in the CWC 2023 points table with 2 points from 4 matches. They won against Bangladesh but lost to New Zealand, Afghanistan, and South Africa.
"England looks like a side that has no confidence. These three losses will hurt them. It happened in the last World Cup, but you felt it was a side that had confidence and they were playing a style and brand of cricket where they could bounce back," Hussain said.
Hussain cited the example of how Willey, playing his first game in the tournament, struggled with cramps which also forced him to temporarily go off the field.
“Just look at what happened to Willey today. No matter how much practice you've had in the nets, or how many laps you've done off the ground, playing in this heat and humidity, you need to have proper match overs in your legs, otherwise you'll cramp up. These are super fit England cricketers and within 40 minutes you could tell how much they were struggling," he added.
England will next face Sri Lanka in Bengaluru on October 26, Thursday.
(PTI inputs)