England Expects That More Pain Is Coming

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Starting With Zero Expectation

 

March 20^th 2014

 

 

England will start their World T20 campaign against New Zealand on Saturday, with Sri Lanka, South Africa and – almost certainly – Ireland to come. A sceptic would look at England’s opponents and suggest that they might do well to win any game, much less qualify for the semi-finals. Having lost both their warm-ups, one would be tempted to agree. If this winter has been Ashley Giles’s job interview to succeed Andy Flower, one wonders if he can be seriously considered as England’s form in the short formats, which was acceptable up to the end of last summer, has now declined into being diabolically bad.

Both in Australia and in the Caribbean, games that should have been won were lost from seemingly invulnerable positions and games that should have been close turned into routs. Tactics have, at times, been incomprehensible and team selection erratic. Individual players have done well, but rarely as a team. The loss of Joe Root and Ben Stokes through injury has removed some options, particularly the useful spin and versatile batting of Joe Root. In contrast, Stokes’s batting has been poor and his bowling worse, although England will continue to invest in him as a player who will be a key member of the side for years to come.

When England take the field against New Zealand they will do it knowing that a defeat will oblige them to win their three remaining games if they hope to progress. They will also do it with expectations at rock bottom.

Ireland, who have already accounted for Zimbabwe, will look at England and expect to add another Full Member scalp. Ireland still have to dot the “I”s and cross the “t”s tomorrow against The Netherlands, but it will be a massive surprise if they do not. Zimbabwe must have known when they saw the draw that their chances of qualifying were not good and after losing to Ireland with the last ball of the match they just scraped past The Netherlands, also with the last ball of the match. Their chances now rest on hoping that the Dutch beat Ireland, while beating the UAE by a bigger margin to avoid the Dutch leapfrogging them in NRR. The Dutch know that they could produce one of the biggest shocks in their cricketing history were results to fall their way and they were to edge through.

Group A was expected to be a battle between Bangladesh and Afghanistan. When the first game of the tournament resulted in a massive victory for Bangladesh, the group looked signed and sealed. What no one had ever imagined is that Nepal would beat Afghanistan too by a wide enough margin that the final game between Bangladesh and Hong Kong would become meaningful. Then, Bangladesh, who only needed to put up a decent total to ensure qualification, disintegrated, losing two wickets in the first over, recovering to 85-3 (scored at around 8 an over) and then falling to 108 all out. When Hong Kong got off to a flying start it really looked as if Bangladesh were in real danger of losing by a large enough margin to let Nepal through on NRR. In the end, a late collapse meant that Hong Kong just barely scrambled over the line, to obtain a famous victory, while shutting out Nepal. Unkindly, an errant editor in CricInfo allowed the report to include a reference to “Honk Kong” without correcting it, but there is no doubt that Honk or Hong, it was Kong’s greatest triumph and a warning to Bangladesh fans that supporting their side comes at the expense of frequent pain.

There are no clear favourites in this tournament. All sides look vulnerable. Without Mitch Johnson Australia’s attack were being made to look distinctly ordinary in their warm-up v New Zealand until finally edging through. South Africa have just been plunged into a crisis similar to England’s by Australia. India have played just one T20 in the last year and are in a deep re-building. Sri Lanka cannot depend on Lasith Malinga forever. Pakistan can win one day and disintegrate the next, while New Zealand’s seam-heavy attack is hardly designed for Bangladesh, a country where they have struggled recently. If the surprises and emotions continue as they have in qualifying, we will be well set.