I think Butler really fucked up with his decision to FIELD after winning
the toss.
It also APPEARS that England team management DIDN'T prepare well in
terms of tactics especially in a VERY CRUCIAL MUST WIN GAME for England
to stay in the semis race.
Butler chose to FIELD based on a sample of four matches and moreover he
DIDN'T EVEN CONSIDER the weather AS A FACTOR at all.
Columnist Matt Roller:
England were simply exhausted, and not for a lack of basic fitness. "It
certainly looked a bit like a warzone there at times," Mott said. The
problem stemmed from Buttler's choice to bowl first when he won the
toss, a decision he explained by saying: "[This is] generally a good
ground for chasing, so that's the reason behind it."
But like so many decisions England have made in this World Cup, the
explanation relied more on the past than the present and the future.
England wandered out to field at 2pm, when Mumbai's heat and humidity
were at their most oppressive. It was a simple recipe for disaster: 11
Englishmen, left in the pan for four hours until fried to a crisp.
The evidence underlying Buttler's assertion was scant. Chasing teams had
a 75% win record in men's ODIs at the Wankhede over the past decade, but
the sample size was all of four matches. There is a strong chasing bias
in the IPL, but the physical requirements of 90 minutes in the field in
the evening are hardly comparable to a full afternoon in the blazing sun.