People were waiting for England to fail, insists Bairstow

England's World Cup campaign is in danger of ending earlier than expected, but Jonny Bairstow believes some do not want the team to win.

Jonny Bairstow blasted the "typical" approach to sport in England as he claimed people were waiting on the hosts to fail at the World Cup 2019.

England's hopes of reaching the last four were hit by successive defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia, though they remain fourth in the table and sit a point ahead of Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Bairstow believes the reaction to the setbacks has been disappointing, with former internationals Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan critical of the current team.

Pietersen suggested on social media captain Eoin Morgan looked "scared" when batting against Australia at Lord's, while Vaughan claimed this tournament could "turn out to be top of the tree" in terms of "atrocious World Cups".

 

Bairstow such responses are unique to England, where the football team have infamously come under severe media scrutiny in the past.

"I've not even seen [Pietersen's tweet], to be quite honest," he said. "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.

"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.

 

"People were waiting for us to fail. They are not willing us on to win. In many ways, they are waiting for you to get that loss, so they can jump on your throat.

"It's a typical English thing to do - in every sport."

Bairstow has, however, been surprised by the pitches used during the World Cup 2019, insisting they are not the same type of surfaces that England have become used to in recent years at home.

"The pitches that we’ve been playing on the last two years are surely the pitches we [should] be playing on in a World Cup," he said. "I don't know why they've changed.

"That wasn't a typical Oval wicket we played South Africa on in the opening game. It wasn't a typical Trent Bridge wicket we played Pakistan on. It wasn't a typical Lord’s wicket that we played the other day. They’re not the typical wickets we’ve been playing on over two and a bit years. That's just factual.

"But I'm not making excuses, we've not played well enough to beat sides when we should have done. We know that."

England face India on Sunday before rounding out their fixtures in the group stage against New Zealand.