If you’re trying to work out which team should be most embarrassed by their World Cup performance, look no further than the England cricket team.
While this isn’t where their downward spiral began and I am sure it is by no means where this will end, one can’t help but believe that they have finally hit rock bottom and the only way from here is up.
England currently sit in fifth position in their Pool A log with one game left to play. However, having lost four of their five games already, there is absolutely no way they will be progressing forward. England’s “good idea” of dropping Alastair Cook for Eoin Morgan has become one of the biggest talking points coming out of the World Cup, especially when you consider the fact that he has made four ducks in his last eight ODI innings.
In all honesty, England were handed some tough games to start with. Meeting Australia and then New Zealand within a week of each other, two teams in exceptional form and both coming into the tournament with long running winning streaks, England were in no mental state or playing form to offer much competition. True to expectation, both opposition teams cruised to victory while England struggled to produce anything respectable with the bat or the ball.
Their third game, against their United Kingdom neighbours Scotland, did not have many holding their breath for a positive result. However, an above average batting performance combined with some effective bowling finally saw the men in blue (well, dark blue) record a victory and put some points on the board.
But this game was a flash in the pan and any motivation or positive thinking that could have been transferred to their next game against Sri Lanka was lost somewhere in the trip from Christchurch to Wellington, with Sri Lanka breezing to victory with just one batsman back in the shed. It was hardly a competition for Angelo Mathews and his men and yet another loss on the cards surely meant an early exit for the struggling English.
A must win game against Bangladesh was the final straw. With Bangladesh setting a competitive, but by no means impossible target of 275, you could feel the pressure lying with the English batsmen as they walked out to the middle. Whether it was scoreboard pressure or simply the magnitude of the game, the innings was a constant battle of staying with the necessary run-rate while still having wickets in hand.
I honestly believed the English were going to win this game and keep their hopes alive, particularly with Jos Buttler, Ian Bell and Joe Root looking set to finally score a proper total. Sadly, it was not to be and a mere fifteen runs destroyed any chance of progression and made sure that England won the embarrassment of the World Cup award.
If you look close enough and hard enough, you’ll find a few positives. Youngster Joe Root as well as Jos Buttler have both shown they are worthy of their places in the team. While neither exactly wowed us, they were able to show a level of maturity well beyond their years in the countless times they were put in a difficult position. Chris Woakes proved he isn’t completely useless with the bat or the ball, considering he managed to pick up more wickets than his supposed superior bowling-mates, a definite personal boost for him and his game.
What most fans are hoping to see post-tournament is a complete reboot of their dismal team: perhaps a new coach or a few new (returning) faces making up the squad. What does need to be addressed is the worrying display of selfish cricket. This is a team sport, not an individual performance and while the top teams play as a unit, the English team present a fractured hierarchy with the more senior players holding a sense of entitlement that seems to be encouraged rather than sifted out.
While the jokes continue about the many excuses that have already surfaced from the ECB camp, the English team will need to play one last game before they are able to depart back home and hide away. Unfortunately, I can’t say I am convinced they will beat Afghanistan in their final match-up considering their top wicket taker, Chris Woakes, as well as Moeen Ali are both out injured. Perhaps their data will work out for them this time around and they can leave with something to work from.
