Embarrassed England discover huge Cricket World Cup rule change likely to force them OUT of next tournament
EMBARRASSING England could be ruled OUT of the next major tournament in another bitter blow.
And they didn’t even know about the recent rule change in a further shambolic twist.
The reigning Cricket World Cup champions are enduring a terrible defence of their 2019 glory this time around in India.
Jos Buttler’s side are bottom of the ten-team group with just one win from their six matches so far – beating Bangladesh by 137 runs.
But now new legislation means they are set to miss out on featuring at the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
That is because the ICC have confirmed only the top seven nations from the World Cup group stage will qualify for the tournament – alongside hosts Pakistan.
The new qualification process was rubber-stamped by the ICC Board in 2021 – but there was no press release at the time.
And England’s one-day coach Matthew Mott admitted he was unaware of the stipulations surrounding the World Cup standings until the media notified him on Sunday when the holders lost to India.
Mott said: “Well, the ICC do change the rules quite a bit with qualification and to be honest I don’t think it would affect in any way the way we’ve played in this tournament so it’s not a big deal.
“It gives us a lot of focus that we need to make sure we don’t just turn up.
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“We’ve got to turn up and play and win those games. And we’re obviously up against some good teams in those last few games as well.
“So, that’s plenty of motivation for us to pick ourselves back up off the canvas and keep trying to throw punches.”
England have three matches left to try and secure a top-eight finish, facing Australia, Netherlands and then Pakistan.
Mott’s side know they need to win at least two to have any realistic chance of going to the Champions Trophy – but even then their poor run rate could prove costly.
The West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland will not be able to appear at the event after failing to book their spot at the current World Cup.
The Champions Trophy will return after an eight-year absence in February and March 2025 and is one of eight major men’s global cricket tournaments in the 2024-31 cycle.
It was last staged in England and Wales in 2017 when Pakistan beat India by 180 runs in the final at the Oval.