England’s Cricket World Cup Catastrophe

The Cricket World Cup continues on Wednesday with the Quarters Finals kicking off the knockout rounds. All of the recognised cricketing counties are present barring the glaring omission of England. A nation that has never won the sport’s showpiece event wasn’t one of the favourites to do so in 2015 but they were expected to at least make the last eight. The Poms won just two games at the tournament against minnows and crashing out of the Cup before they contested their final pool match. They may have finished with a win but they were back on the plane home straight after it.

England Embarrassed on more than one Occasion

It wasn’t that England were beaten by the big names of Pool A but how! Australia’s annihilated them by 111 runs, New Zealand needed less than 13 overs with the bat to reach the Poms pitiful total of 123 before it was the bowlers turn to blow it against Sri Lanka. Having set the Sri Lankans a more than competitive 309 to win, England managed to dismiss just one batsman as their opposition cruised to a nine wicket win. Despite that dreadful run, Eoin Morgan’s men were still going to qualify for the Quarter Finals after they beat Bangladesh… But that didn’t happen. Chasing 275 runs to all but book a berth in the sudden death stage; England stumbled with the bat and the Bangladesh Bowlers began to believe. And when James Anderson was the final man dismissed in the 48th over of the match England’s tournament was finished, though they’d have to front up against Afghanistan in a dead rubber.

Bowlers and Batsmen Both to Blame

England’s bowlers barely bothered to turn up in Australia and New Zealand. Stats say Steve Finn was the best of them with eight wickets but he took five in one match. England’s Batsman were possibly better, though that’s debatable. Ian Bell top scored with 262 runs at an average of 52, but he never provided a match winning innings when many were required. Moeen Ali and Joe Root both made centuries but they both also went missing on occasions, while wicketkeeper Jo Butler was good with the gloves and solid with the willow.

Ireland Achieve More Wins than England

Even Ireland managed more victories than England. The Irish finished with three wins from six games with only net run rate denying them a spot in the Quarter Finals. They could possibly count themselves unlucky that they weren’t in Pool A where they might have put up a better battle against Bangladesh for fourth spot. At least England didn’t lose to Scotland, though that’s little consolation after a month all involved would rather forget.