England Favourites No More
England, the defending Champions had come into the World Cup as favourites and many thought that the Crown was well entrenched and it would be a very difficult proposition for any team to wrestle it away. In my inaugural post on the World Cup, I too had a similar view. However, reputations do not guarantee performance and several including myself have had to eat our own words.
Hitting a Downward Spiral
England could muster just one win in 5 games played so far and are almost eliminated from the semi-final race. Their solitary win came against Bangladesh. But the losses have been demoralising. The Three Lions were annihilated by New Zealand, decimated by South Africa, tamed by the Afghans and brushed aside by Sri Lanka. The heavy defeats have simply pulverised the audacious and unabashed style of English Cricket and ruined their confidence and self-belief. The weight of the Crown and its inherent expectation has further spiralled a downslide.
The Critical Knives Are Out
The critics are out with their scalpels, their visceral analysis of the Team’s undoing, questioning Jos Buttler’s captaincy, the selectors, the conditions, the heat, the humidity et al. But the problem is that England just could not gather momentum in the tournament. The energy and the intent required for a team defending its title were missing big time. The players appeared tired and lethargic. The unexpected defeat to Afghanistan and the crushing blow from South Africa made it worse.
The Stars Left Their Mojo Home
Injury to the great Ben Stokes ( don’t know when he was fully fit ), persistence with the consistently inconsistent Liam Livingstone( Moeen Ali should have played in his place. England floundered here ), the ineffective Sam Curran, injury to Reece Topley, an off colour Woakes and to top it all, a silent Jos Buttler. A team cannot do anything if all their stars do not perform together. Drooping shoulders and self-doubt eventually have ensured an imminent early exit for England.
Rudderless Pakistan on the Brink
Pakistan is another casualty at the World Cup. They lost their match against South Africa in a very tight finish yesterday night. The Proteas ( they could easily be tagged as the worst chasers in world cricket ), made tough work of an easy chase. Pak bowling for once showed some steel and urgency. Eventually, the Proteas prevailed handing Pakistan their 4th consecutive loss in the tournament. Again big names are no guarantee for success and it comes down to performance only. In a tournament like this a couple of defeats can be very difficult to shrug off, with not much time to recover, and with 4 consecutive defeats, a habit of losing sets in.
It’s very much curtains for England and Pakistan. To make matters more difficult, with their morale already sinking, England have run into a flamboyant India and will be facing them in Lucknow tomorrow. The mood in which India is, England have an uphill task as they scramble to save their already slipping Crown.
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