"Nothing wrong with the dressing room" - Chris Woakes quashes Eoin Morgan's claims amid England's 2023 World Cup struggles
England head coach Matthew Mott and all-rounder Chris Woakes have rubbished Eoin Morgan's claims of 'unsettlement' in the English camp amid their struggles in the 2023 World Cup. Woakes insisted that they are still a tight-knit unit and that they still back each other.
Ahead of England's fixture against India on Sunday, former captain Morgan stated that he believes something is wrong with the team. He claimed that their performance level in the 2023 World Cup has been shocking and that their morale is massively down.
Speaking to BBC Test Match Special, Woakes revealed that it's hard to put a finger on what has gone wrong with their campaign, but asserted that the team is not divided. He said:
"I can firmly say that there is nothing wrong with the dressing room. We're all still together. When you are on a tour of India, you spend a lot of time together and this group is certainly behind each other. That is the case. It's hard to put your finger on it, if we knew what the answer was, we'd be doing it and we'd be playing a lot better than we are."
England suffered a 100-run loss to India on Sunday, making it their fifth defeat in the tournament. They had previously lost to New Zealand, Afghanistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.
"The group's been incredibly strong" - Matthew Mott echoes Chris Woakes' claims
Matthew Mott, meanwhile, stated that Morgan can have his opinion and vowed to have a conversation with him. The 50-year-old said, as quoted by BBC:
"I can only say from my opinion the group's been incredibly strong. Eoin's entitled to his opinion and he's obviously been away for a couple of weeks with the birth of his child. He hasn't been in and around the rooms. I'll certainly take that up with him and have a chat to him. We've got a really good relationship with him so if he's seeing something I'm not I'll definitely have that conversation."
Should England fail to finish inside the top seven after the conclusion of the league stage, they will likely miss the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan. Their next World Cup game is against Australia on Saturday in Ahmedabad.