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England suffered a deflating 229-run loss against South Africa in the 20th match of the 2023 World Cup on Saturday (October 21) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. After their third defeat in four games, England now find themselves in the ninth position of the points table, just above Afghanistan.
English skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bowl first in the contest earlier in the afternoon. It turned out to be a huge mistake in hindsight. On a typical Wankhede surface, South African batters made merry as they powered their side to a mammoth score of 399/7. Heinrich Klaasen (109) hit a scintillating century for the Proteas team.
Adil Rashid picked up two wickets and ended up as the most economical bowler by conceding 61 runs in his 10 overs. The rest of the bowlers were taken to the cleaners by the rampaging South African batters.
Lungi Ngidi (2/26), Marco Jansen (2/35), and Gerald Coetzee (3/35) wreaked havoc in the bowling department. They triggered a batting collapse of the English line-up, leaving them in a dire situation at 100/8 in 16.3 overs. Mark Wood (43* in 17 balls) hit a few boundaries in the end in the company of Gus Atkinson (35) to reduce the deficit of loss.
Cricket fans on social media enjoyed the one-sided encounter between England and South Africa on Saturday. They trolled the English team for their poor performance by sharing hilarious memes on social media.
Here is a collection of the best memes:
"We can't afford any more slip-ups"- England captain Jos Buttler after loss against South Africa
After the conclusion of the match on Saturday, England captain Jos Buttler reflected on the crushing defeat, saying:
"Incredibly disappointing. We came here with high hopes to play our best cricket. Throughout the first innings, a lot of things didn't go to plan. Topley got injured and we didn't know if he could come back or not, and the other guys were struggling with the heat as well."
"So, a tough outing there. If we could restrict them to 340-350, we would have been in the game."
Buttler reflected on his decision at the toss and the challenging conditions, saying:
"You always look back on the decisions you make. Potentially should have batted first because of the heat. The conditions were certainly tough. The humidity and the challenges with the conditions didn't make it easy. It was tough."
"We needed to get off to a really good start chasing a score like that. A couple of tame dismissals, some down the leg side, with the leg slip."
He concluded by sharing how England find themselves in a tough position after three defeats in four games in the World Cup 2023:
"(This loss) It leaves us with no room for error. We can't afford any more slip-ups. That's the situation we've put ourselves in.
England will next face Sri Lanka on Thursday (October 26) at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
