Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson set to return as England seek to avoid new low by beating World Cup minnows Netherlands and keep their alive their Champions Trophy qualification hopes

• Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson set to return for England against the Netherlands
• Defeat on Friday could prompt a rethink over future of head coach Matthew Mott
• Managing director Rob Key flies in on Friday, ahead of final World Cup match 

Not in their worst nightmares could England have envisaged the scenario that awaits them on Friday.

Defeat by the Netherlands in Pune would not simply enhance their status as the laughing stock of the World Cup, but leave them in serious danger of failing to qualify for the Champions Trophy in 2025. It is a double whammy no one predicted.

And despite the suggestion that head coach Matthew Mott is safe in his position, there is little doubt that a sixth successive loss – which would be their worst ODI sequence since 2009 – may encourage a rethink, only 18 months into his four-year contract.

When managing director Rob Key flies in to Kolkata on Friday, ahead of England’s final match against Pakistan, he will ostensibly be helping to pick two white-ball squads for the pre-Christmas jaunt in the Caribbean.

But he would not be doing his job if he didn’t seek insight into how England’s title defence has proved as flat as the local naan bread.

Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson set to return for England against the Netherlands on Friday

It said much about the depths they have plumbed that, before a crucial game that could determine the futures of some of his colleagues, fielding coach Carl Hopkinson was the man charged with talking to the media.

This was hardly his fault, but it was hard to avoid the conclusion that England have given up trying to explain the farce. On Monday, for the first time all tour, they didn’t offer a talking head. Now, they were dipping into the backroom staff.

Hopkinson spoke gamely about England’s failure to ‘execute under pressure’, a phrase that covers a multitude of sins, and defended Ben Stokes’s decision to stay on until the end of the World Cup, rather than fly home for immediate knee surgery to ensure he is fit to return to India in the new year for five Tests.

But it all felt like going through the motions, which has been a theme of their tournament.

Even Hopkinson’s well-meaning assessment of Mott didn’t quite assuage fears that England’s head coach is a fundamentally good man who lacks the edge to alter their fortunes.

‘First and foremost, Motty’s a relaxed character,’ he said. ‘He’s got a lot of experience in lots of different avenues that he can bring to the party when things aren’t going well, but equally when they do go well, like they did this time last year.’

In fairness to Hopkinson, England have fielded well in India, their catching success rate of 85% placing them joint-top of the 10 teams.

But on every other metric they have been also rans, scoring only one of the tournament’s top 25 totals, and possessing none of its top 20 run-scorers, none of its top 20 six-hitters, and only one – Adil Rashid – of its top 28 wicket-takers. England have been poor. Worse, they have been invisible.

There is little choice but to freshen things up, with Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson – both scandalously overlooked for the last three matches – in contention. Liam Livingstone, who has averaged 10 with the bat and 52 with the ball, and Mark Wood, who has a knee niggle, could make way.

Above all, England have to find a way – any way – of beating a Dutch side who have been energised by wins over South Africa and Bangladesh, and who know a struggling side trading on former glories when they see it.

County pros such as Roelof van der Merwe (Somerset), Colin Ackermann (Leicestershire) and Paul van Meekeren (Gloucestershire) will need no second invitation to smear more egg on English faces.

Another World Cup defeat could prompt a rethink over future of head coach Matthew Mott

Managing director Rob Key flies in to Kolkata on Friday, ahead of England’s final match

The Netherlands’ bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk was too polite to say so, describing England as ‘world champions’, which technically remains true, if increasingly irrelevant – just as England’s world-record 498 for four against the Dutch in Amsterdam in 2022 has faded from memory.

He also cautioned: ‘Never underestimate a wounded buffalo. They can produce incredible performances at any moment, and we’re preparing for the best England possible.’

That has been another theme: opponents keep waiting for the backlash that never comes. Whisper it, but the Netherlands have the verve and the drive to repeat their T20 World Cup wins over England at Lord’s in 2009 and Chittagong in 2014.

If they do, Key will have more on his plate than ever seemed possible.

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