Men's ODI WC: Incredibly difficult situation, but we have to keep the belief, says Jos Buttler after England lose third match

England's 229-run defeat to South Africa in the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 on Saturday was their second successive loss and third overall in four matches and leaves them in a deep hole, climbing out of it would be incredibly difficult.

England captain Jos Buttler said Saturday's defeat leaves them in an incredibly difficult position but said they will keep the belief.

"Yeah, it's going to be incredibly difficult. We haven't left ourselves any margin from this point on. But we'll keep the belief.

Yeah, it certainly leaves us in a tough position. There's no room for error from here on in. That's going to be incredibly tough, but we'll sit down and go again. That's all you can do in this situation," Buttler said in the post-match press conference on Saturday.

From 243/5, England allowed South Africa to score 399/7 with Heinrich Klaasen scoring a 67-ball 109 and Marco Jansen hammering a 42-ball unbeaten 75, hammering 88 runs in the last four overs. In reply, England succumbed to the pace of Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada to lose five wickets or 67 runs, getting restricted to 170 in 22 overs.

However, Buttler said after Saturday's defeat, they don't have any scope for errors.

"Yeah, with complete honesty, I think it's obvious that we're not performing to our best. It's my job as captain and along with the rest of the team to work out how we can get back to playing that brand of cricket and the style and not just only that, but sort of just playing to our potential and getting back to our best.

"So, it comes down to a lot of that. A few things here and there that we need to keep challenging ourselves on and working on and in this situation that's all you can do. It certainly won't be anyone giving up or having those kinds of thoughts. We'll just have to dust ourselves down and stick our chests out and go again," he said.

However, he said this was the toughest spot he finds himself as an international cricketer.

"Yeah, with complete honesty, I think it's obvious that we're not performing to our best. It's my job as captain and along with the rest of the team to work out how we can get back to playing that brand of cricket and the style and not just only that, but sort of just playing to our potential and getting back to our best.