Cricket World Cup 2023: 'England Clearly In A Downtrend,' Fans Troll Jos Buttler And Co After South Africa Loss

Cricket World Cup 2023: 2019 World Champions England were demolished by South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday (October 21) as they were bundled out for 170 runs in 22 overs after the Proteas posted a total of 399 runs in the first innings. South Africa players Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen played a brutal partnership of 151 runs from 77 balls in the first inning and took the Proteas at 399/7 in the 20th match of the ODI World Cup.

The partnership they had got them into the history books after they made the highest partnership for the sixth wicket or below for South Africa in ODIs surpassing 138* between Justin Kemp and Andrew Hall against India in Cape Town in 2006.

Fans went crazy on social media after witnessing a brutal performance by South Africa as they outclassed England by a long margin in the World Cup game. Checkout the reactions here:

England ke team me to 11 batsmen aur 8 bowlers the, aaj sab fielders hai kya???#ENGvRSA #RSAvsENG #marco #jansen #heinrich #klaasen #markwood #buttler #Benstokes #Hendricks #WorldCup23 #CricketWorldCup #ICCCricketWorldCup #qdk #RSA #SouthAfrica #EnglandCricket — Hindustan Encounters (@Hindustan_21st) October 21, 2023

Very hard to see Jos Buttler and England like this  they came as strong favourites but South Africa bundled out England. Now the one spot is for Australia or England or Pakistan too tough for England as their NRR gonna be damaged. pic.twitter.com/SJ67Tg8Bzv

— Cricspace (@cricspaceoffl) October 21, 2023

Jos Buttler before the WC on defending champions tag:

" I want us to attack, so I don't like the word 'defending'... it may be a motivation for certain teams when they've been in that position, but not for us" pic.twitter.com/zKOYFddOT5 — Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) October 21, 2023

#bbccricket Phew Thank goodness Stokes is back in the team... More seriously, anyone else think that having Buttler as gun batsman, keeper and captain might be too much? Why not give Bairstow the gloves, or, if not, have Root or Stokes captaining? — piemontemio (@piemontemio) October 21, 2023

meray khyl sy buttler or babar ki race lagi hui h k kiski team zada buri performance daygi pic.twitter.com/TFTjKMEk38 —  (@whoishurria) October 21, 2023

Klaasen played a 109-run knock from 67 balls with a strike rate of 162.69 in the first inning. On the other hand, Jansen scored 75 runs from 42 balls with a strike rate of 178.57. Klaasen contributed 69 runs in the 151-run partnership. While Jansen made 74 runs for the partnership. Heinrich Klaasen smashed 12 fours and four sixes in the first inning on Saturday. Meanwhile, Jansen slammed three fours and 6 sixes. (Cricket World Cup 2023: Rashid Khan Meets MS Dhoni Ahead Of Afghanistan's Clash Against Pakistan, Pic Goes Viral)

Coming to the match between South Africa and England, South Africa displayed a powerful performance in the first inning. Reeza Hendrick played an 85-run knock after opening for the Proteas. Van der Dussen also scored 60 runs. But Klaasen's iconic knock deserved all the limelight. The English had a disappointing performance in the game. They failed to keep the run rate in check and take early wickets. In the second inning, England needed 400 runs to win the game in Mumbai.