David Willey: “All three facets of our game haven’t been where they need to be if we want to win games of cricket”

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England left-arm seamer David Willey has conceded that his side have failed to live up to expectations in the ongoing T20 tri-series, which also involves Australia and New Zealand.

England have lost all three of their matches thus far and need Australia to beat New Zealand in Auckland on Friday in order for them to have any chance of making the final.

If New Zealand lose, then England will have to triumph by a large margin when they clash in Hamilton on Sunday in order to book their spot in the final against Australia.

Given the predicament England themselves in, Willey admitted: “All three facets of our game haven’t been where they need to be if we want to win games of cricket. We’re aware of that and we need to perform to put things right.

“We’ve been down in all areas, but if we’d have caught [Glenn] Maxwell [who then scored a match-winning ton] out in that first one in Hobart, we might have gone on to win that.”

Meanwhile, Willey pointed out that the T20 tri-series has served a useful purpose as it has given senior players like Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow a chance to rest and recuperate following a long tour of Australia, where they lost the Ashes 4-0, but won the five-match ODI series 4-1.

“On long tours, some of the guys have been out here a long time,” the 27-year-old said. “It gives them a bit of down time to gather their thoughts and refresh the mind and body. It’s not all been bad [despite the T20 results].”