- Tuesday, April 22, 2025
The Three Lions are in a serious danger of missing the mega tournament two years later in Pakistan as only the top eight teams of the ongoing World Cup will qualify.
By: Shubham Ghosh
ENGLAND fans were in for a shock as Matthew Mott, the country’s head coach, said on Sunday (29) that he learned that his side’s qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy was in jeopardy only midway through their massive defeat against hosts India in Lucknow the same day.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had in November 2021 approved in a board meeting that while Pakistan would automatically qualify for the 2025 contest as the hosts, they would be joined by seven other top finishers at the 2023 World Cup which is currently underway.
The news was not communicated publicly then or to the press at that time. The ICC confirmed the qualification process earlier on Sunday.
While not many boards were aware of the qualification process for the 2025 tournament, the issue came up for public discussion after Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan made remarks referring to the Champions Trophy in a press conference, which indicated that at least he knew that the qualification was at stake.
Both Bangladesh and England will have a herculean test to pass if they are to qualify for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan as both of them are sitting at the bottom of the points table in the ongoing World Cup, at number nine and 10, respectively. They have three matches left in the tournament and will have to win most of them to climb up the points table and finish among the top eight.
Mott, who attended a press conference after England received a thrashing by India, said he had found out about the qualification only “about an hour and half ago”.
“The ICC do change the rules quite a bit with qualification and to be honest, I don’t think it would affect, in any way, the way we’ve played in this tournament, so it’s not a big deal,” he said.
Jos Buttler, the England captain, however, said that he was aware of it. When he was asked about it and whether he felt that it would give an extra motivation to the Three Lions’ final three matches, the wicket-keeper-batter said he is aware of it and proved that his team has lots to play for.
England have beaten only Bangladesh in the World Cup while lost heavily to five teams, including Afghanistan. They will play Australia, Netherlands and Pakistan in their remaining fixtures.
Mott said England have got a “fair bit” to play for towards the back end of the tournament.
“[The qualification process] gives us a lot of focus that we need to make sure we can’t, you know, just turn up. We’ve got to turn up and play and win those games. And we’re obviously up against some good teams in those last few games as well. That’s plenty of motivation for us,” he said.
