Michael Atherton believes Brendon McCallum “filled his hands” with England following his team’s disappointing Champions Trophy exit.
England caused an eight-run loss to Afghanistan on Wednesday as they failed to achieve 326 goals to win despite Joe Root’s stylish 120 from 11 deliveries in Lahore.
Opener Ibrahim Zadran starred in 177 from 146 balls for the winner, while first bowler Azmathura Omarzai scored five wickets with 58 runs.
That won’t soon be the case as England was the double world champion of whiteball cricket, but things fell badly with the failed tournament.
Their efforts in the 2023 50 Over World Cup were nothing more than a joyless trudge around India, and were slightly better than they were thrashed in the semi-finals of last year’s T20 tournament.
They had to be fired here to show they could get back to the good times, but back-to-back defeats and quick flights just make sure their limited over-games are in a hurry.
Atherton: Britain has regressed
“England has regressed,” Atherton said. Sky Sports. “It’s a sports lesson and when you take your eyes off the ball, it’s hard to pull it back, and there are all kinds of reasons for it.
“It didn’t look like a fully functional team. We looked one-dimensional. It hurts the UK because a lot of batters aren’t clicking completely.
“There aren’t enough batsmen in Prime Touch, we saw a great inning from the route. [Ben] Duckett, but there are places it isn’t clicked completely – [Phil] salt, [Harry] Brooke recently – it’s hurting England.
“I think McCollum filled his hands. I’m not entirely sure if they’ll tie the roles together. There’s always one format that doesn’t work out.
“If things go badly here, he’ll lose some of that magical dust. He’s putting a real challenge in his hands.”
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England’s Adil Rashid appeared to grow on the second ball from the final ball of the game, but was caught by Ibrahim Zadran as Afghanistan secured a dramatic eight-run victory.
“England talent, Afghanistan Smart”
Nasser Hussein welcomed Afghanistan’s progress compared to his rival nations, putting more pressure on British skipper Jos Butler.
“This UK sometimes doesn’t do the right thing at the right time,” Hussein said.
“Use Joe Root on the other side and be with him and take the game deep. The UK rarely deepens the game. They are talented, but not smart.
“Pakistan and Bangladesh should look at Afghanistan and ask why it stagnated. Bangladesh plays the same cricket they were 15 years ago. This Afghan side has played some of the best crickets from Division 5.”
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Butler reflects the loss of Britain to Afghanistan and their exclusion from the Champions Trophy
“One Dimension” England has no complaints
After the game, Hussein focused more and more on England’s one-dimensional bowling attack.
The lack of British variation in favor of the more right-handed sailors, as left-handed options such as Sam Curran and Reese Topley were overlooked, and the lack of British variation was once again responsible for bowling the opposition.
It contributed to McCollum’s overall decline. Hussein claimed that the campaign was coming to an end when he faced South Africa in Karachi on Saturday and had been out of pace for quite some time.
“It was another ICC event that they became poor, and their winning percentage was 29% since the final World Cup entered this, so it clearly fell even further from there,” Hussein said.
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Butler was quized into his future as a skipper and revealed that he is considering all the possibilities
“England can’t complain. They haven’t played particularly good whiteball cricket for a very long time.
“They found a pitch that you think is perfect for playing Afghanistan – it didn’t help their spinners at all – but Afghanistan was more diverse with their attacks and they had wrist spinners, left arm spinners and left arm quicks.
“England was one dimension. Adil Rashid had been attacking for too long. They were out and out of all forms of world class routes.
“It’s not enough, it’s not enough from the UK. It’s not here, it’s been a long time.”
ICC Champions Trophy 2025 – Results and Equipment 🏏
Group a
Group b
Semi-finals
- March 4th: Semi-finals-A1 V B2 (Dubai)
- March 5th: Semi-finals 2 -A2 V B1 (Lahore)
final
- March 9th: Final (Lahore or Dubai)
All matches of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy will be held on March 9th Final, Live on Sky Sports, or Stream now.
