Ian Botham claims England's WC campaign is 'like a dog with three legs'

Former England Test Cricket and captain Ian Botham has claimed that the team's World Cup campaign is nothing more than like a dog with three legs, insisting that they are not yet up and running at this tournament.

Botham claimed that people should excuse him if they don't see him doing cartwheels along Waterloo Quay on the way to the Sri Lanka match in Wellington on Sunday, following England's win over Scotland.

Botham wrote in his column for The Mirror that the upcoming England and Sri Lanka game has become an absolutely mammoth clash now with two teams who haven't hit top gear yet. And he added that in England's case have been bumping along the bottom until their Christchurch win.

The former skipper stated that it was a win, and 119 runs is the sort of gap one would expect to see, but added that they should not kid themselves that England are up and running now at this World Cup, because he claims that they are moving like a dog with three legs.

Botham claimed that the limp might well turn into a jog come Sunday night if they have dealt with Sri Lanka in the same way, but added that he feels England missed a trick against the Scots.

Botham insisted that England should have dominated the game in the way that the West Indies dominated Zimbabwe after they had laid a solid foundation. He added that Chris Gayle went into over-drive and showed the world why he can still be a force to break the hearts of bowlers.

The former Test cricketer said that Moeen Ali threatened to do something similar but he couldn't push on, and those coming in behind him found the Scottish bowling trickier than he thought possible.

Botham claimed that England spluttered and edged their way to 300 when something far bigger should have been on the cards and added that if they can't see that then he is not sure if they know what it would take to win this World Cup.