Well yesterday England as expected defeated the West Indies by 18 runs which not only kept England's hopes alive in the world cup but also avoided another mismatch awaiting with Bangladesh having a chance to go through to the quarter finals of the tournament in case England had lost the match to the West Indies. That in turn would have seen four teams from the sub-continent make it to the 2nd round of a world cup which has so far not happened in any of the world tournaments. And, with Bangladesh making it to the quarters would have spoiled all spirits of the mega event.
This is the 1st time since the 1996 world cup that all eight test playing teams have advanced to the second stage of the world cup. One can take a look at the 1999 edition where Zimbabwe made it to the super sixes at the cost of England (to the super sixes), India (to the semi-finals). As a result, Pakistan had a walkover to the semi-finals after they had lost to India and the Proteas in the super sixes. The result was no different four years later when Kenya and Zimbabwe emerged to the super sixes with four teams namely Pakistan, West Indies, England and South Africa losing the plot midway.
In 2007, in the first week of the tournament, India and Pakistan-arch rivals made an early exit which saw a dumb Ireland and Bangladesh making it to the super eights. India and Pakistan were much better teams compared to England and the West Indies which made the mega event a failure. Viewers had to watch helplessly the Ireland-Bangladesh when overpriced tickets were bought anticipating an India-Pakistan match. However, things have returned to normalcy this time with a lot of compromises mentioned in my earlier posts. I instead went in for Personal, Golf, Travel, Golf, Foods rather than seeing a tasteless match out there.
There was threat everywhere in the initial stages of the tournament wherein Ireland and Bangladesh both beat England making England's chances slim in making it to the quarter-finals of the world cup. But, just have a look at what Andrew Struass is all upto when he miraculously beat the Proteas in a low scoring thriller and tied with India when all odds were against them. The presence of West Indies made life easier for the Englishmen for, had it been some New Zealand or Sri Lanka instead of West Indies, may be we would have seen Bangladesh playing the 1st quarter-finals.
Showing posts with label England vs Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label England vs Ireland. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
England play a spoilsport
Any random blog can now tel you where the English team now stands in the ongoing ICC world cup after losing to first Ireland and then yesterday to Bangladesh. I just had a bet that the West Indies might just flatter against Bangladesh for they were facing Bangladesh on their home soil and then the team is an outdated one after Brian Lara retired 4 years earlier. No one needs to feel sorry for England not being able to make it to the quarter finals in case they fail to do so. One can realize the fate of the team in earlier matches as well.
If one can take pains to go through the 2007 world cup, England's major win was only against the West Indies where they chased down 302 in the super eights. England failed in the games against Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa. A win against Bangladesh and Ireland cannot be given such a preference which I suppose you will agree to. Of course, even West Indies' major triumph was against Pakistan in the league stages which was followed by a series of losses against Sri Lanka, Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. Now, England has a game only against West Indies to prove their myth.
I just cannot believe that England has secured a win against South Africa and a tie against India after seeing their performances against Ireland and Bangladesh. If Ireland comes in for all praises for coming back from being 111/5 at one stage to chasing down successfully 326, other finger points to the reckless bowling of the English bowlers who couldn't make the match theirs. If one could go through the match against Holland, England narrowly missed a defeat first after allowing them to pile up close to 300 runs and then failing initially during the chase. Did South Africa and India fare badly or did England play better cricket?
This has never been the case in the past where a team fares well against strong oppositions and goes for selfdestruction in the games against weaker teams. It would not come as a surprise if England fail to reach the quarter finals in case they lose to the West Indies because, West Indies is a weaker opposition like say Bangladesh and Ireland. A match against will always be considered a tie and not a win for England. Bangladesh now has three wins against England, Netherlands and Ireland which makes them eligible to qualify for the quarter finals. England on the other hand have only two wins and at a lesser run rate.
If one can take pains to go through the 2007 world cup, England's major win was only against the West Indies where they chased down 302 in the super eights. England failed in the games against Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa. A win against Bangladesh and Ireland cannot be given such a preference which I suppose you will agree to. Of course, even West Indies' major triumph was against Pakistan in the league stages which was followed by a series of losses against Sri Lanka, Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. Now, England has a game only against West Indies to prove their myth.
I just cannot believe that England has secured a win against South Africa and a tie against India after seeing their performances against Ireland and Bangladesh. If Ireland comes in for all praises for coming back from being 111/5 at one stage to chasing down successfully 326, other finger points to the reckless bowling of the English bowlers who couldn't make the match theirs. If one could go through the match against Holland, England narrowly missed a defeat first after allowing them to pile up close to 300 runs and then failing initially during the chase. Did South Africa and India fare badly or did England play better cricket?
This has never been the case in the past where a team fares well against strong oppositions and goes for selfdestruction in the games against weaker teams. It would not come as a surprise if England fail to reach the quarter finals in case they lose to the West Indies because, West Indies is a weaker opposition like say Bangladesh and Ireland. A match against will always be considered a tie and not a win for England. Bangladesh now has three wins against England, Netherlands and Ireland which makes them eligible to qualify for the quarter finals. England on the other hand have only two wins and at a lesser run rate.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Scores settled for England
A couple of days back, England would have left the field cursing whatever came their way, with the rains, the Duckworth Lewis method taking a greater share of that. That was the match which should have seen the England team jumping in joy after first putting up a mammoth total of 191 on the board which was till date the highest team total as far as this edition of the world T20 is concerned. But, their joy never seemed to last long enough with rain taking away the game away from them when they deserved to win no matter what the odds had to say.
However, if that was the match which England lost and should have won, yesterday a major upset was averted for England when they were on the verge of creating history for the bad and wrong reasons. The match would have seen the England captain being invited first before the Irish captain to the presentation ceremony. England would have become the first team in the world to have lost two games to non test playing nations. England had earlier in the previous edition of the world T20 lost to Netherlands in the initial phase of the tournament in 2009. Luckily they survived with a win against Pakistan later.
So far England are the only team in the world who have lost a game in the T20 world cup against a team which doesn't have a history of playing test matches. Of course, Australia had lost a match to Zimbabwe in the inaugural edition of the world T20 and the West Indies to Bangladesh. But, Zimbabwe has a history of playing test cricket and Bangladesh has been doing the same since almost a decade or so. It would not have been wrong to bet on Ireland in yesterday's match. A total of 120 stands nowhere in T20 cricket and Ireland have entered the super eight stage after beating a test playing nation in 2009.
Had the match not been affected by rain, I bet Ireland would have ended up victorious. As mentioned earlier a target of 120 and that too in a T20 game can land a team nowhere. There could have been a freak chance of West Indies overcoming the huge target of 191 imposed by England, given the home team advantage and a decent batting line up. But there was not even that freak chance for England to win against Ireland in yesterday's game. The bad fortune that was bought by rain in the earlier game against West Indies happened to be a boon in disguise for England in yesterday's game.
England may probably be forgiven for losing against the West Indies but not to Ireland which would have been their 2nd such callous approach to the game.
However, if that was the match which England lost and should have won, yesterday a major upset was averted for England when they were on the verge of creating history for the bad and wrong reasons. The match would have seen the England captain being invited first before the Irish captain to the presentation ceremony. England would have become the first team in the world to have lost two games to non test playing nations. England had earlier in the previous edition of the world T20 lost to Netherlands in the initial phase of the tournament in 2009. Luckily they survived with a win against Pakistan later.
So far England are the only team in the world who have lost a game in the T20 world cup against a team which doesn't have a history of playing test matches. Of course, Australia had lost a match to Zimbabwe in the inaugural edition of the world T20 and the West Indies to Bangladesh. But, Zimbabwe has a history of playing test cricket and Bangladesh has been doing the same since almost a decade or so. It would not have been wrong to bet on Ireland in yesterday's match. A total of 120 stands nowhere in T20 cricket and Ireland have entered the super eight stage after beating a test playing nation in 2009.
Had the match not been affected by rain, I bet Ireland would have ended up victorious. As mentioned earlier a target of 120 and that too in a T20 game can land a team nowhere. There could have been a freak chance of West Indies overcoming the huge target of 191 imposed by England, given the home team advantage and a decent batting line up. But there was not even that freak chance for England to win against Ireland in yesterday's game. The bad fortune that was bought by rain in the earlier game against West Indies happened to be a boon in disguise for England in yesterday's game.
England may probably be forgiven for losing against the West Indies but not to Ireland which would have been their 2nd such callous approach to the game.
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