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[Jos Buttler:]

Yeah, a lot. I'm really disappointed. We’ve come here wanting to put in a really good performance. We got outplayed today. Afghanistan were fully deserving in their victory.

[Reporter:]

Does it feel worse than the New Zealand defeat? Because you were into the tournament, you were up and running last week and then the wheels come off a little bit?

[Jos Buttler:]

It never feels good, you never like losing games of cricket or not performing to the level you want to.

[Reporter:]

And can you put your finger on where you think it went wrong, it didn't start great and you never quite got in front of the game at all?

[Jos Buttler:]

No, we didn't, no we started poorly, first ball of the game I missed one and it sort of set the tone for that first 10 overs, we didn't hit the areas that we wanted to and credit to Gurbaz - as he put us under a lot of pressure, played some good shots, but maybe a few too many easy boundaries in there. And it took us a while to sort of get into the game, as you said, and we came back well, and then maybe let them get a few too many more at the end.

[Reporter:]

We know it's a long tournament and there's time to get back into it, but are you of the mind now that with two defeats from three you're almost into that must-win mindset now?

[Jos Buttler:]

Yeah, it's a big setback obviously. Before the tournament starts you have a different idea of how the first three games would pan out. We've got to show a lot of character, a lot of resilience within the team and most of all a lot of belief. There was a lot of excellent players in there and we haven't played well enough today but we must keep that belief.

[Reporter:]

You've talked about the way in which the team have played rather than necessarily the result. Do you feel as though the team actually played in the style that you wanted them to play and just didn't execute properly or is there an issue there with how you went about it?

[Jos Buttler:]

Look, we always want to play positive and be aggressive and some days you don't play as well as you want to. Though Afghanistan built good pressure on us, maybe the wicket didn't play exactly how we thought it would play and maybe the dew didn't come in as much as we thought as well.

Obviously, our spinners bowled really well there today and Afghanistan have some brilliant spinners so that was always going to be tough but we just didn't manage to get the partnerships going that we wanted.

[Reporter:]

I know it's quite raw at the moment but have you an idea on how you might lift the players from this defeat because it's perhaps one that was unexpected?

[Jos Buttler:]

Yeah, I think everyone will be disappointed in the dressing room and sort of let that sink in but there's a lot of guys who've been through lots in their career in there as well and guys who've come back from tough situations and shown a lot of character and resilience, as I mentioned. And it's a very tight-knit group, so we'll get around each other and pick each other up and dust ourselves down and go again.

[Reporter:]

The cross formats in recent years, England have kind of played some of the best cricket when their backs been to the walls. I think of Ben Stokes saying you know, 2-0 down after Lords was the perfect position for the way the team's played. 2019 and then in Australia as well. Do you look at that? Is that something that you take from it? And does it, I guess, sharpen the focus a little bit?

[Jos Buttler:]

Yeah, I think we've played some good cricket in all scenarios, whether we've been on top and frontrunners and fancied or whether we've had our backs against the wall. You know I think it's a position you find yourselves in, it's not the position you wanted to be in three games ago but the character is excellent as I've mentioned, there'll always be belief and we'll dust ourselves down and go again.

[Reporter:]

Is it too early to say that England's World Cup defence is under threat because you guys are yet to face India, Australia, and South Africa?

[Jos Buttler:]

Yeah - As I mentioned just before, it's not been the way we wanted to start the competition, but this is the situation we find ourselves in and we're going to have to play some of our best cricket moving forward.

[Reporter:]

And what's the latest update on Ben Stokes' fitness?

[Jos Buttler:]

He wasn't fit for this game but we'll see how he pulls up for the next one.

[Reporter:]

I was going to ask actually about selection what was the thinking about there was no Moeen - is that is that because the pitch didn't play quite as you thought it would and how close was Ben, he looked kind of a bit better in the last couple of days

[Jos Buttler:]

Yeah, he was close and yeah, the selection was - having watched the first couple of games here obviously India went with the extra seamer as well in their lineup we thought the wicket would play similarly and maybe the dew would come in in the second half. But no, I think whichever line-up we had, we just weren't good enough today and we didn't play well enough and full credit to Afghanistan, they deserve to win.

[Reporter:]

Were you guys sort of surprised how the conditions played out, especially in the second half compared to how it did in the India game just three days ago? Was that something that sort of derailed your chase there? Would you say that?

[Jos Buttler:]

Yeah, it probably wasn't exactly how we thought, but I think we just didn't manage to get the partnerships that we wanted. There was good value for your shots out there. I think as Harry Brooks showed, if you got yourself in, you could score runs and play well. We just didn't manage to chasing that kind of score. We needed a couple of big partnerships to chase it down and obviously it gets easier the more you get in and we just didn't manage to do that as individuals or as a team.

[Reporter:]

The question is regarding Chris Woakes. I mean in three matches till now he hasn't really fired as much with the new ball as you would have liked, so what is your opinion on this?

[Jos Buttler:]

Yeah, he's probably not performed as we know he can but he's a class player, he's been the leader of our attack for a very long time. He's performed extremely well over a long period of time and they're the guys you want in your team and you keep backing them.

[Reporter:]

It’s kind of been two games you defeats where you've sort of not really turned up, it's probably fair to say, rather than losing two close games. Is that worse than if you had have lost two last ball thrillers?

[Jos Buttler:]

I think there's no good way to lose obviously. We're disappointed in the performances we put in and we'll do everything we can to put that right.