England cricketers' gesture to Gareth Southgate ahead of T20 World Cup final

Gareth Southgate has urged England's cricketers to make the nation proud - and give his squad the perfect lift ahead of their own bid for World Cup glory.

Jos Buttler will lead the Three Lions into battle against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup Final in Melbourne on Sunday morning - just three years after they lifted the 50-over crown. Southgate will be tuning in to watch - and revealed that he will be using their heroics and the success of England's women at the Euros in the summer to inspire his team in Qatar.

Southgate said: "I am a proud Englishman and whenever I see them playing I want them to do well - whatever the sport. We hope we can provide that same enjoyment and excitement.

"I know a few of the England team. They very kindly sent me a shirt last summer. That was great because there are some really impressive guys there - and I enjoy watching them."

Southgate has been England's most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey won the World Cup in 1966 and then took his defending champions to the quarter-finals in Mexico four years later.

But England's fans turned against him during a miserable Nations League campaign which saw England relegated after finishing bottom of a group that included Italy, Germany and Hungary. He was jeered off the pitch after both a 4-0 defeat to Hungary at Molineux in June and a 1-0 loss to the Italians in Milan three months later.

But the England boss insists he is happy to take the flak for his players - and insists they will go to Qatar full of confidence that they can impact the tournament. Southgate took England to the World Cup finals in Russia in 2018 and they were beaten by Italy on penalties in the Euro finals in 2021.

Southgate said: "It's not important what was or wasn't aimed at me, personally. My only focus is how do I help this team to have a brilliant tournament. We have a great chance but, as we did with Russia, we want to manage expectations at the same time.

"I know what this group is capable of. They have been to deep reaches of tournaments - they know they can do that again. There's no reason why they can't. And that's my sole focus. What people say, think, talk about me is irrelevant.

"My job is to free the players of any of that. I'm excited for the tournament and they should be as well."

England open their campaign against Iran in the Khalifa International Stadium - and the 45,000-capacity stadium will be packed with fans of the Arab nation.

Only hosts Qatar have sold more tickets than England's second opponents, the United States. And they will close Group B in a Battle of Britain showdown with Wales.

Southgate said: "There's a chance our fans could be well out-numbered in the stadium. We have done a little digging about ticket sales, because you can have England fans living in other countries. It's not as easy as just tracking which countries have had the highest sales. It's a bit more complicated than that."

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