‘Losing to Afghans would be horrendous’

England assistant coach Paul Farbrace has admitted that losing their final World Cup match against Afghanistan on Friday doesn't bare thinking about, and that such an event would make the loss to Bangladesh pale in comparison.
England were knocked out of quarter-final contention when they lost a fourth game out of five, with the Tigers doing a bang-up job with the ball to prevent England from advancing. They must now play one last game against the Afghans, and the pressure to win is immense.
Farbrace said on Thursday: "If losing the other day to Bangladesh was terrible, we couldn't possibly imagine what it would be like if tomorrow goes against us… because that would be horrendous.
"Our job now is to make sure we give ourselves the best chance, clear heads, and go and play proper cricket tomorrow."
The assistant coach went on to say that the mood in the camp was 'subdued' after their defeat, and that losing the three games early on, against Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka made it very tough to recover.
Farbrace continued: "The last two days have been pretty ordinary, really. We've all felt the huge disappointment.
"We came here wanting to give it a go and really play some exciting cricket and we haven't done that. We got blown away in the first two games and I don't think we've really recovered from that.
"There has been a lot said about perhaps our nervousness and the tension that we're playing with. I think it's hard to argue against that. I think that's been the biggest disappointment over the last couple of days – thinking about what might have been.
"Practice yesterday was a bit subdued. It wasn't as good as it perhaps has been, and that isn't for anything other than the boys are still hurting from the other night and there is huge disappointment."
Latest
-
News
Zak Crawley vows England will be more proactive in battle against India’s spin
Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel have run riot in helpful conditions.
-
News
Dale Steyn heaps praise on Pakistan trio, prefers PSL over IPL
Record South African fast bowler Dale Steyn is full of praise for Pakistan players Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Babar Azam.
-
News
Chris Gayle sets sights on third T20 World Cup title
West Indies veteran Chris Gayle has set his sights on winning a third T20 World Cup when he makes his return to international cricket.
-
News
Cricket in line to receive significant chunk of £300m sports recovery package
The England and Wales Cricket Board welcomed the support, describing it as “a lifeline for parts of the game”.
-
News
Marcus Trescothick relishing return to ‘special environment’ with England
Trescothick is England’s new batting coach.
-
News
Jack Leach feels here to stay after establishing himself as top England spinner
Leach made his debut almost three years ago in New Zealand but had made only 10 appearances before the turn of the year.
-
News
Kevin O’Brien says century against England helped Ireland ‘reach for the stars’
O’Brien hit a 50-ball 113 as Ireland chased down a target of 328 in the 2011 World Cup.
-
News
Ian Harvey is Gloucestershire interim coach after Richard Dawson joins England
Dawson has accepted the position of ECB elite pathway coach
-
News
Marcus Trescothick, Jon Lewis and Jeetan Patel join England’s coaching staff
Trescothick has left his assistant’s role at Somerset.
-
News
Ben Foakes focuses on squaring the series with England
The tourists are 2-1 down going into the final Test against India.