World Cup 2023: Nasser Hussain weighs in England's chances of title defence

Former cricketer Nasser Hussain feels England bouncing back to win seven consecutive games to defend their World Cup title after suffering three defeats remains unlikely at this point as they lack confidence.

The Three Lions were looking to bounce back after Afghanistan pulled off a major upset over them with a 69-run victory last week at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

But South Africa handed England their third defeat out of the first four matches of the ongoing World Cup by registering a comprehensive 229-run victory.

After the game, Hussain talked about the ongoing struggle of the defending champions and pinpointed confidence to be a major factor in their recent sub-par performances.

"England look like a side that has no confidence. These three losses will hurt them. It happened in the last World Cup, but you felt it was a side that had confidence and they were playing a style and brand of cricket where they could bounce back. England need to now win seven games on the bounce to defend the World Cup, but they don't look like a side that could do that at the moment," Hussain told Sky Sports.

He further went out to point out England's error in decision-making even before a single delivery was bowled. England's strength lies in their star-studded batting line-up, but skipper Jos Buttler decided to rely on their bowling by choosing to field instead of batting first after winning the toss.

"England keep getting their decisions wrong. We got the toss and the balance of the side wrong. The three changes in the squad moved England completely away from how they have been playing for years. Woakes had no rhythm and on a flat pitch you leave him out and bring Stokes in, I agree with that decision. What I don't like is the toss decision and reliance on stats," Hussain said.

"The last time both England and South Africa played, they fell short chasing the target, so they need to be careful about what stats they are looking at. I think Jos [Buttler] didn't have a great day either because so many of them were struggling. Willey was going down with cramps, Stokes was struggling, Brook and Topley were getting treatment, Rashid was feeling sick. It was a nightmare, he didn't know who to turn to. England need to get the decisions they're making off the field right. The quality of performance was not good enough, but get your decision making right off the field. I hear a lot about statistics, and Eoin Morgan used statistics, but there was a lot of gut feeling there too. You need to get your decisions right, don't just go to your default settings," Hussain added.

Coming to the match, while chasing the mammoth target of 400, England failed to challenge the Proteas and were reduced to 100/8. But a partnership between Mark Wood (43 in 17 balls, with two fours and five sixes) and Gus Atkinson (35 in 21 balls, seven fours) offered some entertainment to fans, but they eventually bundled out on a score of 170 in 35 overs.

South Africa registered a thumping 229-run victory handing England their worst defeat in ODI history.

Gerald Coetzee (3/35) was the top bowler for SA. Lungi Ngidi (2/26) and Marco Jansen (2/35) took two wickets while Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada took one.

After suffering three defeats in their first four matches, England will take on Sri Lanka on October 26 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Karnataka.