Michael Vaughan responds to Jonny Bairstow allegations; says it’s ‘negative, pathetic, mindset’

England were cruising on the path to the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup till their fifth game. With four wins out of five, their only loss against Pakistan in the second match looked more of an aberration. But no more. Eoin Morgan’s side suddenly found their wheels getting stuck and with two back-to-back losses against Sri Lanka and Australia, the Three Lions are in the danger of witnessing a last-four berth slipping out of their reach. England next play India on June 30 while New Zealand are their final league opponents on July 3.

They have lost three of their seven games so far and all of them came while batting second. While the show against Pakistan was yet a glorious one as the hosts lost by just 14 runs while chasing 349, their defeats against the Lankans and the defending champions have been more demoralising. In both the games played within a span of five days, England’s top order failed to impress and the team came to depend too much on Ben Stokes’ heroics.

While the team is still left licking the wounds, another controversy has hit the England camp. Frontline batsman Jonny Bairstow remarked that people were waiting for England to do finish their campaign on a disappointing note in the World Cup so that they have the opportunity to “jump on your throat”.

Though the Yorkshire batsman’s target was not explicitly mentioned, it is believed that he was after former captains Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan who were critical of England’s consecutive losses.

England faced criticism after their losses

While Pietersen said Morgan was “scared” in his team’s 64-run defeat to Australia, Vaughan said England could be headed for their worst World Cup. Bairstow, who has scored 245 runs in the tournament so far, said England are still in the tournament and playing a “great brand of cricket”. He also said such circumstances are typical “English” and in all sports.

Also read – World Cup 2019: 3 Reasons why England aren’t the favourites anymore to win the tournament

Vaughan responded to the 29-year-old batsman saying the latter was “wrong”. On his Instagram post, the former captain said the England team had a lot of support this time but the cricket team has disappointed many. He said England need to win just two games to make the semis but expressed doubt over Bairstow’s “negative, pathetic mindset”.

Here is Vaughan’s post: