England captain Jos Buttler press conference after their loss against South Africa.
[Reporter:]
"That's got to be quite a painful defeat. What are your emotions at this time?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"Yeah, disappointment. A really tough defeat to take. Obviously, we were disappointed in Delhi and had a good few days and worked really hard and did a lot of things hoping to put it right today but it didn't work out."
[Reporter:]
"There's a lot of aspects going on there but where do you think the game got away from you? Did that class and innings sort of reset the whole game at that point?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"Yeah, I think that was the main bit of the game. We had them five down there, and if we could have found a way to break that partnership and take another wicket, you know, we could have looked like restricting them to 340 or 350, which probably would have been a really good chase on that pitch.
I think getting up to 400 was an excellent score, it sort of took the wind away from us and it was always going to be tough from there, we needed everything to go perfect to pull off a chase like that."
[Reporter:]
"And conditions wise, there was a bit of cramp going on. People looked best - knackered, sick, unhappy. Any regrets on your part for your choice at the toss, really, and not sort of sticking to the half grid and letting them have a bit of that?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"Yeah, I think you always reflect after games and sort of question your decisions. Certainly, with hindsight, the sort of physicality of that innings, potentially batting first would have been a better decision, but I'm not going to sort of sit here and question that and in that sense and sort of say, you should have done this or you should have done that. It's a decision I took at the time. I thought it was the right one and I still believe if we were chasing 340, 350, we would have done really well in those conditions.
Yeah, a few things didn't go right. Obviously, Reece, picking up a knock and unsure if he was going to come back. So, I thought Joe Root did a fantastic job there filling in. And yeah, physically it was tough. You know, everyone's efforts were, you can't fold anyone's efforts, but yeah, Klassen and Jansen put together a fantastic partnership there."
[Reporter:]
"Of course, it's a big chase 400 is not easy but did you think your batting would go the way it went, I mean 170 - even that looked very difficult at one time."
[Jos Buttler:]
"No obviously not. Some fantastic players there and even though it's going to be a tough ask, there's still belief in the dressing room. You know, we'd need everything to sort of go right to pull off a chase like that. But, getting things caught down the leg side, caught leg slip, those kind of dismissals, it sort of feels like it's not going to be your day."
[Reporter:]
"How was the sickness issue on the pitch? Who was unwell? It looked as if Rash didn't feel very well and it looked as if Reece wasn't quite the same bowler after that blow. Was that really difficult to deal with? You needed people to bowl through those issues?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"Yeah, obviously Rash was struggling a little bit with the sickness before the game, but I felt like he could get out there and perform and performed really well. So, credit to him for that. Yeah, Reece obviously took a nasty blow on his finger, which we'll see how that is tomorrow. But, you know, a character to come back and try. Physically it was a really demanding innings and like I said before, it makes you question maybe in those kind of conditions batting first may have been the right call at the toss"
[Reporter:]
"And the balance of the side was obviously quite different to what you know we've become to expect from England. Usually loads of bowling options and batting quite deep you've got a different way with that and it hasn't worked out today Is it too early to reflect on what you might do going forward with the balance of the side?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"Yeah, I think, sort of try and reflect logically and unemotionally. So, yeah, tomorrow morning and stuff - I think that's a good time. Yeah, we thought that was going to be a good balance for the for this game on this wicket where pace generally is the thing that takes the most wickets here but we were outplayed, we were short of our best and that's the result we came up with."
[Reporter:]
"And have you had a chance to think about where this leaves England in the tournament? I mean, mathematically, you can still progress, but you kind of need snookers. Is that how you see it? And what could you do to turn it around after four games?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"Yeah, it certainly leaves us in a tough position. There's no room for error from here on in. That's going to be incredibly tough, but we'll sit down and go again. That's all you can do in this situation."
[Reporter:]
"After three defeats out of four, the manner of defeats, I think this one is the heaviest that England have ever had in terms of runs. How do you kind of maintain that belief? And you talk about being quite logical about it. Logic says that this is a trend now rather than blips, how do you kind of deal with that and keep going?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"Yeah, with complete honesty, I think it's obvious that we're not performing to our best. It's my job as captain and along with the rest of the team to work out how we can get back to playing that brand of cricket and the style and not just only that, but sort of just playing to our potential and getting back to our best.
So, comes down to a lot of that. A few things here and there which we need to keep challenging ourselves on and working on and in this situation that's all you can do. It certainly won't be anyone giving up or having those kind of thoughts. We'll just have to dust ourselves down and stick our chests out and go again."
[Reporter:]
"And is this the toughest spot that you found yourself in as an international cricketer?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"Been in a few. I've certainly experienced plenty I'd say, in my career, which makes you feel like you're in the best possible place you could ever be to deal with something like this. I've gone through lots of ups and downs in my own career and teams I've played in and there's certainly challenges but from challenges come opportunity and that's certainly the lens I'll be looking through."
[Reporter:]
"Just before the World Cup started, the general impression in India and expert opinion was the England team was better than 2019. That was the perception. Now with three defeats, India, Pakistan, Australia, qualifying for the last four may be difficult for you."
[Jos Buttler:]
"Yeah, it's going to be incredibly difficult. We haven't left ourselves any margin from this point in. But we'll keep the belief."
[Reporter:]
"Is frequent traveling taking a toll on the boys? Do you consider this as a setback for the boys that after every match you have to travel to different cities throughout the world?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"No, we knew that was going to be the case with our schedule. And lots of the guys have played IPL cricket and know what it's like to travel. And through it, we're all incredibly professional. So, we won't be using that as an excuse."
[Reporter:]
"Was there some unhappiness from you guys for the way that Heinrich Klassen celebrated his century? What was the chat around that on the field after he celebrated his 100th?"
[Jos Buttler:]
"I think he was obviously emotional to score 100. I don't think he needed to celebrate in Mark Wood's face and credit to him, he recognised that a couple of seconds after and he apologised. They played a great knock and I think he apologised straight away so there's no ill feelings there."
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