Matthew Mott has said that his job as England’s white-ball head coach is “sometimes not all about results” after his side relinquished a second global title in seven months.
The Australian is keen to remain in the job after their hammering by India in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, though the final decision on that will be taken by Rob Key, the managing director of England men’s cricket.
India’s 68-run win in Guyana on Thursday, which set up a meeting with South Africa here in Barbados on Saturday at the Kensington Oval, was England’s third loss in four against Test-playing opposition at the tournament. It followed on from a disastrous defence of their 50-over world title last year in India, when England failed to advance beyond the group stage.
Asked if he wanted to continue, Mott, 50, said: “Absolutely. I absolutely love what I do. I’m incredibly fortunate to be around such talented players and staff. I’m excited by where we can go. We weren’t quite at our best this tournament and the result probably reflects that.
“There’s still a lot of positivity within our group. We feel like at times we haven’t had the run of play, and we still put ourselves in with a chance to progress through to the final. There’s improvements to be made, but there’s certainly positivity as well.
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“Jos [Buttler, the captain] and I as a partnership, we’ve been galvanised in the last six months and you learn more about leadership in times of adversity. We’ve stuck together in tricky circumstances. Sometimes it’s not all about results.
“We’re in a results-driven business but when you have a crack and do your best, you can sleep at night knowing sometimes results are out of your control.”
Mott said England’s exit here was different to their failure in India in November: “There, we didn’t really fire a shot,” he said.
Ben Stokes, England’s Test captain, has given Buttler his backing, saying: “Jos is the man to lead that white-ball team forward. He is a great leader. He’s got the respect of all the team members in the dressing room. It’s not shabby to say you got through to a World Cup semi-final.”
England had a difficult passage through the tournament with rain badly affecting two group games and leaving them within 47 minutes of elimination. The India semi-final was also hampered by rain and there were wet spots on the wicket at the start. “Ordinarily if it was a different day and a different forecast it might have been different,” Mott added.
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Mott was appointed white-ball coach in 2022 and within months won the T20 World Cup in Australia. But results since have been mixed. During Mott’s time, India, Australia and New Zealand have better overall records than England in both T20s and ODIs.
The Australian said the management would take a break before reviewing where they stood. Key, who visited the Caribbean twice during the tournament, will lead that review.
“For the next week or two, we’ll chill out and reflect, and then get back together and plot the next stage,” Mott said. “We’ve got a series against Australia in September. That will give us a great opportunity to see what our best team looks like for the next six to 12 months. We’ll take that time to reflect, then hopefully come back bigger, badder and better.
“There are some really good teams that didn’t make the semi-finals, so there’s a lot to take out of that. There’s still plenty of positives. There’s been some really good performances. It’s exciting what’s ahead for the group.”
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With so many opportunities available for less time-consuming, well-paid jobs with franchises, it is not easy to find candidates to run international teams. Key has recently talked up the credentials of Andrew Flintoff, one of Mott’s assistants at the World Cup, who will shortly take charge of Northern Superchargers in the Hundred.
Jonathan Trott has also enhanced his reputation by taking Afghanistan to their first semi-final at a major tournament. Both might be touted as options to take over from Mott, whenever that time comes, but neither would be frontrunners.
The difficulty of beating India in the conditions that prevailed in Guyana — a spin-friendly, slow and low pitch — must serve as some mitigation. “India in those conditions are a formidable team and you have to be at your best to beat them — we weren’t quite there,” Mott said. “It [going out in the semis] is not where we want to be, but it’s not a disaster either.”
