As England prepare to defend their T20 World Cup title, their former captain Michael Vaughan has issued them a timely warning. The Jos Buttler-led team is looking to become the first team in the history of the game to win back-to-back T20 World Cups.
They are definitely one of the strongest contenders for the title this year. The defending champions are drawn in Group B alongside the 2021 winners and their bitter rivals Australia, Scotland, Oman and Namibia. With two teams advancing to the Super 8 stage from the group stage, England and Australia are the favorites to qualify from Group B.
While only time will tell how England will perform in the ongoing ninth edition of the T20 World Cup, Michael Vaughan has warned them to avoid repeating the mistakes they made in the ODI World Cup last year. England were also the defending ODI World Cup champions, but had a disastrous campaign in India. In the ten-team competition they finished seventh after winning only three of their nine league games.
Michael Vaughan’s warning to England:
Ahead of England’s title defense campaign, Michael Vaughan has said the team’s leaders will be under pressure to deliver in the T20 World Cup. The former cricketer claimed that “people will not keep their jobs” if England do not achieve a good result in the tournament.
He stated that England had made several mistakes in the ODI World Cup and could not afford to make the same mistakes again. He also warned the reigning champions about their poor record in the Caribbean. Although England won the T20 World Cup in the West Indies in 2010, they have struggled in bilateral series in the Caribbean.
“This England leadership group is under pressure. They failed miserably in India and if we see a similar defense of their over-20s World Cup trophy then I fear people won’t keep their jobs.
“You are judged as captain and coach by decisions at the draw, selections on the morning of the match, ensuring the mentality is right and playing the right style at the right times. Let’s be honest, England made a lot of mistakes in India. During the next four weeks cannot make the same mistakes again,” Michael Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
“The only concern for England is that they don’t have much success in the Caribbean, apart from lifting the T20 World Cup in 2010. We haven’t won a Test series there since 2004, England lost both white-ball series in December. Sometimes in the Caribbean you become too relaxed.
“You’re on the beach and on the jet skis, and in Barbados you almost feel like you’re on vacation playing a bit of cricket. It’s about finding the balance between not being too intense like they were in India, and at the same time not to be too relaxed as if you were on vacation,” he added.
England will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Scotland on Tuesday (June 4).