England are not as good as they think they are and have a lot of hard work to do to even qualify for the World Cup quarter-finals, former opening batsman Geoffrey Boycott said on Friday. Eoin Morgan's side suffered a humiliating eight-wicket defeat by New Zealand after being bowled out for 123 in Wellington and allowing the hosts to reach their target in 12.2 overs.
"Perhaps they are not as good as they think they are," Boycott told the BBC. "I said that about the captain Morgan and everybody went mad, but maybe England aren't either." England lost their last seven wickets for 19 runs and New Zealand seamer Tim Southee became only the fourth bowler to take seven wickets in a World Cup game. "This was not an uncovered or grassy pitch seaming all over the place," Boycott said. "This was a flat 270-pitch minimum and they made a right mess of it."
The mauling by New Zealand followed a heavy defeat by Australia and England will need to win at least three of their four remaining Pool A games to have a chance of reaching the last eight. "England are not out of the World Cup," Boycott said. "They have to beat Scotland, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and then they're through to quarter-finals. It's a good job they've got minnows to play because they are not playing good enough to beat any decent team. I will be a bit nervous on Monday for the Scotland game."
England's preparations for the tournament were far from ideal with Alastair Cook axed as captain in December but they beat India twice to reach the Tri-Series final in Australia. "They have got a lot of hard work to do," Boycott said. "We've had an interminably eventful few months with things going on. What have New Zealand been doing? They've had a settled side, good leadership and winning test and ODIs, while we don't know our best batting line-up."
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