White-ball coach Matthew Mott believes it is time his England team “get the mojo back” ahead of the T20 World Cup – and has hired Manchester City’s psychologist to help his players be more emotionally vulnerable if they come under pressure in the Caribbean.
David Young, who was previously with England from 2016 to 2020, has worked with City during an unprecedented period of success, with the club recently becoming the first team to win four Premier League titles in a row.
He has been brought back as a consultant on a short-term basis ahead of next month’s World Cup, with City’s approval.
Jos Buttler was influential in the decision and has previously credited Young for helping him perform in the 2019 World Cup final. Young joined the England squad in Leeds ahead of their washed-out first T20I against Pakistan on Wednesday and will link up with them again in Cardiff on Monday, after helping City prepare for Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester United.
“He’s previously been with the team and he’s already been a great ally in messages back to me, making sure my messages are clear,” Mott said. “It’s always good to have someone who’s a little bit removed from the squad to make sure you’re landing your messages… He’s still doing other roles but we’ve got him for this series, and the start of the World Cup as well.”
England’s management are trying to learn from the mistakes they made at last year’s 50-over World Cup, when they were knocked out at the group stage and won three of their nine games – two of which came after their elimination. Mott described the tournament as “death by a thousand cuts” and said: “When you’ve had the kick in the pants like we’ve had, you can’t just go ‘business as usual’. You have to redefine how you go as a team.
“As a group, we’ve made a commitment to be a bit more open in and around our training sessions, to help each other out a bit more. In India, all of us were guilty of being a bit insular, and trying to problem-solve ourselves. We’ve made a commitment to open up and be a bit more vulnerable as a group so that we’re helping each other.”
England will confirm their World Cup squad to the ICC before Saturday’s second T20I at Edgbaston and will name the same 15 players that formed the provisional squad, despite both Liam Livingstone and Mark Wood carrying niggles. Jofra Archer‘s return was delayed by the rain on Wednesday and he is likely to play at least two of the remaining three T20Is.
Mott said that England are “pretty confident” that they know their best XI for the Caribbean, and said he would be comfortable taking Tom Hartley to the World Cup even if he does not win his first T20I cap in this series: “He’s played a lot of high-quality cricket in the last 12 months.” (ESPNcricinfo)
