Despite suffering their heaviest ever defeat to India at the weekend, England have qualified for the Super Eights stage of the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Mark Butcher never got the chance to represent his country at the shortest format of the game, but he did make 71 Test appearances for the England cricket team during his career.
Speaking on behalf of ESPNcricinfo.com's World T20 coverage, Sports Mole caught up with the 40-year-old former Surrey batsman to discuss England's chances of success, their well-documented failings in the subcontinent and that man Kevin Pietersen.
Now that the dust has settled on the thrashing by India, should England fans be concerned? Or was that result a mere blip?
"I don't see it as a blip really. I see it as something that was entirely predictable. At the start of the tournament the worry for England in subcontinental conditions was that they traditionally don't bat very well there. Against good spinners, it doesn't even have to be against a mystery spinner, but against good spinners in those conditions life is very, very tough and so it was proven. I don't think it's something to be concerned about and I don't think it's a blip. I just think that it was pretty predictable."
Of course England have a Test series coming up in India this November. It doesn't bode well, does it?
"If India had any doubts to what their tactics where going to be during the Test matches then they know now! Obviously the one ingredient that England don't have is Pietersen. As well as his three years of IPL experience playing on Indian pitches, plus the fact that he is one of the world's best players, England are going to really, really miss him as they are doing in this Twenty20 tournament."
Do you think Pietersen's absence shone through during the encounter with India?
"Absolutely, although that is something that should not come as any great surprise to anybody, or will ever surprise anybody."
There are a number of youngsters in the squad. Could the humbling they received from India benefit them in the long run?
"One of the things that teams talk about all the time is about taking the positives and learning from defeats. Of course that is exactly what you must do. I think one thing that a defeat like that does is if you were under any illusions as to how much of a step up international cricket and international cricket on the subcontinent is, then all of those illusions have been taken away. You now know that the game is very, very different from playing in English conditions. You need to learn very quickly a different method to score runs on those type of pitches."
Is that something that the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales can master?
"They're good players who are very young and very inexperienced. At some time they will master it, I have no doubt about that. Will they be able to do it in time to win this tournament and the tour in the winter? I'm not so sure. It may take a little bit longer."
Looking ahead, would it be fair to say that England have been dealt the more favourable of the two Super Eight groups?
"You've got the hosts in there (Sri Lanka) who have been very impressive. The West Indies have kind of got through without having to play. I picked them as being the dark horses and up there among the favourites to win the competition simply because they've got a lot of cricketers in their team with IPL experience. That is enormously beneficial in this tournament so the West Indies are certainly no walkover. New Zealand have put big runs on the board in their two games and they are a very good side. There is no easy group at this stage because as predicted the minnow sides have all gone out and you're left with the best cricketing nations in the competition. Avoiding India is probably a good thing, but like I said you replace them with Sri Lanka or even the West Indies and they all have players that are vastly more experienced at Twenty20 cricket in India than the England team."
So, crystal ball time! Do you feel England have what it takes to finish in the top two and move into the semi-finals?
"No! I said before the tournament that I felt getting through to the semi-finals would constitute a win. Given the performance against India, it's very, very hard to see how they are going to achieve that. However, taking the positives: Luke Wright scoring that brilliant hundred even though it was only against Afghanistan, Craig Kieswetter getting the team off to a reasonably decent start against Inida and the bowlers doing what they always tend to do, which is perform pretty well. It only takes one really good performance and the mindset changes. One or two players can win a match for you. It's not impossible but if it was my money I wouldn't [back them]."
Who will get through then?
"Sri Lanka for sure. Then the rest of them all stand an equal chance. The other thing to factor into all this of course is the fact that it has rained for the last three days. I remember Thomas Moody (former Australia coach) tweeting before the tournament that it is rainy season in Sri Lanka. The weather could end up getting England through if they can get the right side of a toss or the right side of a Duckworth Lewis and before you know it you're in the semi-finals."
One of the major talking points away from the pitch has been the small crowds that have attended matches so far. Do you think the numbers will increase as the tournament progresses?
"I really hope so. Some of the venues are a long way out of the towns. That happened during the 50-over World Cup in the West Indies and it just didn't work, people didn't come out. One of the problems that the ICC has and world cricket is when you are trying to shoehorn so much cricket of all different types all into a calender year, you get this at tournaments. [The T20 World Cup] is being played in the wrong venues in the wrong season."
How about yourself - would you like to have played Twenty20 cricket for England?
"I'd love to have played any sort of cricket for England! On that subject, it's my belief that long-term T20 cricket should become the sole avenue for clubs and franchises to spread. Unless it's a global tournament, I don't really see the need for international teams to play T20 cricket throughout the year. Once every couple of years in a World Cup, great, but it's extra fixtures that the calendar could do without."
Graeme Swann hinted at that during a recent interview when discussing his ongoing elbow injury. Would less cricket benefit the likes of Swann?
"This is the thing - you can't seem to get away from bringing Kevin Pietersen's name into any conversation at the moment. Part of his problem is the fact that he wanted to give up 50-over cricket, but he still wanted to play 20-over cricket. What Graeme Swann is saying in his interview is, that given the chance, he could probably do without playing some short-over cricket but his contract says that if he gives up one, he has to give up the other. I didn't agree with that when it was first enforced and I don't agree with it now. Particularly when the players get into their 30s and have families. They spend several months of the year away from home and the demands on their body, regardless of the amount of the money being paid - that's totally irrelevant. If you decide that you don't want to play one form of the game you don't get paid for it, simple as that. There will be a youngster waiting to come in who is desperate to play in all forms and it rolls on like that."
You've mentioned Pietersen there. Would you like to see him return to the England fold and how quickly could this happen?
"I hope so and I'm betting that the England captain is hoping so for the reasons that we were talking about earlier. He's got to take his team on his first tour as captain of England to India. His batting lineup looks fragile to say the very least and England's best and most experienced player of spin in subcontinent conditions is not in the side. If I was captain I would want that remedied pretty quickly. Whatever the talks are, I'm sure it's a lot more about how much cricket is he going to play? Is he going to be able to play Twenty20 and not 50-over cricket and is he going to have to go on all of the Test tours? What happens about the IPL? It's all about the cricket that the ECB wants him to play and the cricket that he wants to play, rather than all of the other stuff that has been spoken about."
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