Jos Buttler's 'Batting First Confession' After England's Horrific Loss Against South Africa

Following his side's 229-run loss to South Africa in their ICC Cricket World Cup match, England skipper Jos Buttler said that batting first could have been a better decision and added that there is no "room for error" from now onwards. A fiery century by Heinrich Klaasen and then an all-out attack by pacers helped South Africa secure a 229-run win over defending champions England at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday. In the post-match press conference, Buttler said, "I think you always reflect after games and sort of question your decisions. Certainly, with hindsight, the sort of physicality of that innings, potentially batting first would have been a better decision, but I am not going to sort of sit here and question that and in that sense and sort of say, you should have done this or you should have done that. It is a decision I took at the time. I thought it was the right one and I still believe if we were chasing 340, 350, we would have done really well in those conditions.

"A few things didn't go right. Obviously, Reece, picking up a knock and unsure if he was going to come back. So, I thought Joe Root did a fantastic job there filling in. And yeah, physically it was tough. You know, everyone's efforts were, you can't fold anyone's efforts, but yeah, Klassen and Jansen put together a fantastic partnership there," he added.

Buttler described the loss as "tough defeat to take". He said that the loss leaves them in a tough position.

"Yeah, it certainly leaves us in a tough position. There is no room for error from here on in. That is going to be incredibly tough, but we will sit down and go again. That is all you can do in this situation," he added.

The skipper said that had England broken the sixth wicket