Former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain tore into the Jos Buttler-led side after they were eliminated from the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, post their 8-run loss to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan put up a brilliant display to pile on 325 runs on top of opener Ibrahim Zadran's 177 and maintained composure to defeat the 2019 World Cup winners, leaving England eight runs short in a game that was a do-or-die situation.
Since the journey to India last month, this was England's eighth straight defeat under Buttler's leadership. Following their 3-0 defeat in the ODIs in India, England's Champions Trophy campaign began poorly when they were unable to hold off a depleted Australia and defend another 300-plus mark.
“I think England have definitely regressed, and it's an amazing lesson in sport. The moment you take your eye slightly off the ball, it can come back to bite you, and it’s very difficult to drag it back. There’s all kind of reasons for that,” Atherton said on Sky Sports.
“There was a time the white ball team had done very well, but the Test match team was in the doldrums, so focus goes back to the Test team, and it’s difficult to do that across formats. Suddenly you’re not winning games, you’re losing games, and you find that your team is way off the pace. Hasn’t looked a team that’s in full working order,” he added.
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“Look at that Afghanistan bowling attack, left-armers, pace-off, lots of different types of spin. We looked a bit one-dimensional with the ball. And not enough batters are in prime touch. There’s a lot of batters not quite clicking, Salt, Brook more recently. That’s hurting them,” explained Atherton.
Nasser Hussain concurred with Atherton's evaluation of England's attack's one-dimensionality, pointing out that the bowling was less diverse than Afghanistan's that day.
“Another ICC event they’ve been poor in. Their win percentage since the World Cup was 29%, it’s dropped from there. They can have no complaints tonight or leading into it. They haven’t played good white ball cricket for a very long time,” said Hussain.
Hussain also indicated that Afghanistan’s strength were also a big factor in their win.
“You have to give credit to Afghanistan, the way Zadran played, 177, one of the best innings I’ve seen in white ball cricket. Just not good enough from England, way off, and not just way off today, way off for a long time,” Hussain stated.
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Afghanistan has set a virtual quarterfinal versus Australia for qualification, while England now faces South Africa, a game the Proteas would want to win to secure a semi-final spot.
