Matthew Mott, England's head coach, said that he only found out that his side's place in the 2025 Champions Trophy was in jeopardy midway through the second innings of their 100-run defeat to India in Lucknow, after the ICC confirmed the qualification process earlier on Sunday.
The ICC approved the qualification process at a board meeting in November 2021, determining that Pakistan would qualify automatically as hosts and be joined at the eight-team event by the seven other highest finishers at the 2023 World Cup in India. The news was not communicated publicly or to the media at the time.
The process was confirmed to the media on Sunday afternoon in Lucknow and while some competing teams were aware of it - Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh's captain, mentioned a goal of a top-eight finish after his side's defeat to the Netherlands on Saturday night - others, including England, were not.
After five defeats in six group games, England are bottom of the points table and may need two wins from their remaining three fixtures to qualify for the Champions Trophy. They play Australia in Ahmedabad on Saturday, before travelling to Pune to play the Netherlands then Kolkata to face Pakistan.
There has been significant staff turnover at the ECB since that November 2021 board meeting, with changes to the chief executive, chair and managing director of men's cricket, as well as coaches and captains across formats. They are unclear why the news was not communicated publicly.
Immediately after England's defeat, Mott confirmed at a press conference that he had only found out about the top-eight cut-off "about an hour and a half ago". He said: "The ICC do change the rules quite a bit with qualification and to be honest, I don't think it would affect, in any way, the way we've played in this tournament, so it's not a big deal."
Jos Buttler, England's captain, was asked at the post-match presentation whether he was aware of the qualification process, and whether it added any extra motivation to England's final three games. "Yeah, I'm aware of that," Buttler said. "Absolutely, it just proves we've got lots to play for."
Mott added: "We've got a fair bit to play for towards the back end of this tournament. [The qualification process] gives us a lot of focus that we need to make sure we can't, you know, just turn up. We've got to turn up and play and win those games. And we're obviously up against some good teams in those last few games as well. That's plenty of motivation for us."
England's fixture against Netherlands in Pune on November 8 looms large as a match that could have significant implications for both teams. Netherlands have not featured in a Champions Trophy since 2002, when they lost both their group games, while England have been part of all eight editions.