The former England skipper turned cricket pundit Michael Vaughan has slammed Jonny Bairstow for complaining too much and termed his negative and pathetic mindset.
England’s hopes of progressing to the semi-finals have been dealt a major blow with successive defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia.
Earlier in the day Jonny Bairstow said Vaughan’s remarks were indicative of the general response to England’s predicament, which comes after they had dominated the one-day game for the better part of the past four years.
“I was on the radio this morning; I was surprised with a clip of Vaughan’s comments at 8.30am. Bloody hell. That’s pretty rich,” Bairstow said.
“People now are paid to have an opinion, so they’ve got to have an opinion. Because we’ve done so well, any opportunity for someone to see we’ve lost two games, they were always going to jump on it.
Vaughan, who represented England at the 2003 and 2007 World Cups, captaining them in the latter, quickly hit back on Friday.
“How wrong can @jbairstow21 be .. Never has England team had so much support but it’s you and your team that has disappointed Jonny .. WIN 2 games and you are in the semis .. With this negative, pathetic mindset I… https://www.instagram.com/p/BzPkFKXB0gB/?igshid=1krdq6ffp49bm,” Vaughan Tweeted.
England are fourth in the World Cup table with eight points from seven games and face a huge clash against unbeaten India at Edgbaston on Sunday, with Bairstow set to open for a batting line-up that has failed to chase down sub-300 totals in back-to-back matches.
Morgan’s side will complete their group-stage campaign against New Zealand at The Riverside on Wednesday, with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka all still in the hunt to deny them a semi-final place.