Rob Key backs Matthew Mott to continue as England white-ball coach

London [UK], November 12 : England head coach Matthew Mott has full backing to continue as the senior men's team white-ball coach despite a disappointing ICC Cricket World Cup campaign in India.
As per ESPNCricinfo, Mott expressed his desire to continue in his role following England's 93-run win over Pakistan, their third win in the World Cup which helped them secure a seventh-place finish and a slot in ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
"If anything, I am more determined than ever," he said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Robert Key, England's managing director on Sunday had said that Mott has the full backing of the management ahead of next year's ICC T20 World Cup title defence in June next year. Key himself shouldered the blame for England's shortcomings in this tournament, saying that it was because of his decision to prioritize the Test team.
"Coaching is pretty simple: you are judged by your results, but you are also judged by the way that your players go out and play and they have not done that at all," Key told the BBC.
"Matthew would be the first one to say that."
"But I find it a funny position to be in where I am blaming Matthew Mott for this when in many conversations I have had to say, 'sorry, you're not going to have your best team - you are not going to have Joe Root, Ben Stokes, all of these people because the Test team's going to."
"So the first time it goes wrong, I am not going to sit here and go, 'Actually, right, you should have done this, you should have done that.' We'll have some pretty honest conversations, as you do in these things and say, 'right, what you're going to do to improve this?' But as far as I am concerned he gets my full backing and an opportunity to try and turn it around," concluded Mott.
Key also said that it was hard for him to be critical of Mott or skipper Jos Buttler since it was his own decisions that undermined the abilities of the England ODI team.
"It is very hard for me to be critical of Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott when I am the one who, every single time the decision has been made for whether or not we focus on 50-over cricket, Test cricket or T20, I have always chosen Test cricket," Key said.
"Every single time, I have been the one. So I hold myself accountable really, more so than anyone else, for what is gone wrong on this. There's plenty of things we would do differently which we've got to try and do," he added.
England has made a lot of changes in the squad for a Caribbean tour next month and Key said that Mott and Buttler will get their chance to rebuild things but another failure could result in change.
"I think Jos will be a better leader for this," Key said. "We have to pick [squads by asking], 'who are our best white ball players?' Bang, put them in there. We have to get back to defining every single role: who do we want? Who is the best player to fulfill that role," said Key.
"Investing in them will give Jos that clarity going forward. I feel this actually should be the making of those two as a partnership. If it is not, it is not, and you move on - but we have to make sure some good comes out of what has been a very poor World Cup," he concluded.