Buttler: England must 'let defeat hurt' after Afghanistan spring World Cup shock

Jos Buttler says that England must "let this defeat hurt" after their faltering World Cup campaign hit another shocking setback with a 69-run loss to Afghanistan in Delhi.

The result was set in motion by Afghanistan's opener, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who made 80 from 57 balls, before their senior spinner Rashid Khan sealed the win with 9.3 overs left unused, to condemn England to their second defeat in three outings, following a nine-wicket drubbing in their opening match against New Zealand.

It leaves England, the world champions, in clear danger of a group-stage exit from this year's tournament, with little wriggle-room for their remaining six matches, including next Saturday's crucial clash with South Africa in Mumbai, one of the three unbeaten teams at the top of the standings.

"I think you've got to let these defeats hurt," Buttler said at the post-match presentations. "There's no point in just trying to move on very quickly, although you've got to do it as quick as you can.

"But let it hurt for a bit, let's reflect and work on the areas that we need to get better and we must show some real resilience. We've got a lot of character in the group, a lot of guys who've been through lots of good times and a few tough times as well. So we'll show a lot of resilience and come back fighting."

Buttler's comments echo his sentiments after another recent group-stage upset, against Ireland at Melbourne in last year's T20 World Cup. On that occasion, England used the loss to galvanise their approach and bounce back to become the first men's team to hold the 50- and 20-over world titles concurrently. But, to judge by a troublingly meek showing, they've got a huge challenge to get their campaign back on course.

"As a whole, we are not quite at the level that we'd like to be, and in World Cups and against good opposition, guys putting you under pressure, that's where we need to be." Buttler said. "So all of us, from everyone on the field and off it, will be working hard to put that right."

England's troubles began with the ball, where Chris Woakes endured his third off-colour display in as many outings, including a first-ball leg-side delivery that flew through Buttler's legs for five wides - an inauspicious moment that summed up a lax display.

"It was disappointing, having won the toss and elected to field, me missing the ball down the leg-side first ball set the tone for us there early on. Obviously it's a tough loss to take. Congratulations to Afghanistan, they outplayed us today."

"It's always about execution, isn't it?" he added. "Throughout the game, with the ball and with the bat, we were not at the level that we want it to be consistently enough. So I think that's the main areas where we lost the game and I think you just got to play better. You got to find ways to impose yourself on the game and execute your skill."

Afghanistan's total of 284 was perhaps some 50 runs short of what had been on the cards while Gurbaz was cutting loose in the powerplay, but it proved to be more than enough once Afghanistan's experienced spin attack had put a stranglehold on England's chase.

Harry Brook withstood better than most for a hard-fought 66 in conditions that proved far less favourable for batting than England had anticipated, but his six over fine leg off Mujeeb Ur Rahman was the only time that they cleared the ropes all evening, compared to Afghanistan's eight sixes.

"They are a really skilful attack," Buttler said. "Obviously they have some fantastic spin bowlers, especially. Maybe the dew didn't come in as much as we expected. The ball held a little bit and there was a little bit of indifferent bounce and they put us under lots of pressure.

"They bowled very dry. They bowled dead straight, keeping the stumps in play, and we weren't quite good enough today."