• Team thrashed by India in T20 World Cup semi-final
• Coach believes he and captain Buttler should keep roles

Matthew Mott insists his leadership partnership with Jos Buttler has been “galvanised” and, given the chance to continue after England’s T20 World Cup mauling by India, believes the team will bounce back “bigger, ­badder and better”.

Having secured the trophy in Australia back in 2022, both Mott, the head coach, and Buttler, the captain, find themselves under pressure, with a lamentable 50-over World Cup defence in India last winter now followed by a spasmodic T20 campaign that saw only associate teams and West Indies beaten before a gory semi-final exit.

• England outplayed by India in semi-final rout
• Buttler wants to carry on as captain despite defeat

After being outplayed by India in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup, Jos Buttler admitted he needed a break. Not, he soon clarified, to consider his future as England’s white-ball captain, rather some time and space to review what was a hugely disappointing exit.

In a capricious format such as Twenty20 cricket, reaching the knockout stage was widely considered the requirement for England after a poor showing in the 50-over World Cup last winter that cast doubt on Buttler and the head coach, Matthew Mott, as a leadership pairing. And so, in that regard, they met the benchmark.

• India 171-7; England 103. India win by 68 runs
• Spinners Patel and Yadav take three wickets each

It was a scene witnessed on countless Test tours to the subcontinent but one played out in the semi-final of the men’s T20 World Cup in steamy Guyana. England were spun out in dramatic fashion for a crushing 68-run defeat that booked India a date with similarly unbeaten South Africa in Saturday’s final at Kensington Oval.

As Rohit Sharma’s side amassed 171 for seven either side of an 80-minute rain break it became apparent that the slow, low surface at Providence Stadium would make any chase tough going. The target was three runs more than the one England vaporised during that one-sided semi-final in 2022 but Adelaide this was very much not.

The World Cup semi-final – if the rain stays away – could be Guyana’s rumble next to the jungle

Guyana was once a staple of England tours to the Caribbean. From the steamboat passengers of 1930 led by the Honourable Freddie Calthorpe through to Mike Atherton’s jumbo jet set in 1998, in all bar one visit to the region their cricketers disembarked at Georgetown on the South American mainland.

Then they pretty much stopped. There was a Super Eight encounter with Ireland in the 2007 World Cup, a couple of one-day internationals against West Indies in 2009 and two wet group games during the 2010 World T20. Then another 14 years of the holiday islands getting dibs on the wallets of the beach‑seeking English tourists; white sand and lapping waves preferred to the steamy fringes of the Amazon rainforest.