Moments after Bangladesh scored 333/8 against Australia in their World Cup encounter, former England skipper Kevin Pietersen took to Twitter to announce that the Aussies should go home and prepare for the Ashes and the 2019 World Cup trophy should be handed to England. But a couple of games down the line, not only have Australia qualified for the semi-finals, but also England find themselves in a spot as they must win both their remaining games to qualify for the semis.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time that the Englishmen haveflattered to deceive on the world stage. Apart from winning the ICC World T20under Paul Collingwood in 2010, the England outfit has failed to win a singleshowpiece event. And while a lot was made of their resurrection under EoinMorgan after the 2015 World Cup exit, it seems like the story is headed towardsanother ouster for England in the group stages.
Coming into the 2019 edition of the World Cup, England wereconsidered favourites and all-rounder Ben Stokes had told IANS that the tag hadbeen earned with consistent performances over the years. But with seven of thenine games done with, the picture doesn’t look too bright for the Three Lions.
While they started off with a brilliant 104-run win overSouth Africa in the tournament opener, they were handed a blow by Pakistan intheir very next game. The mercurial side led by Sarfaraz Ahmed beat the hosts by14 runs in a thriller.
Morgan’s men came back strongly in the next three games asthey beat Bangladesh by 106 runs, West Indies by 8 wickets and Afghanistan by150 runs. But that is where the fortune took another turnas they lost to out of touch Sri Lanka by 20 runs. Chasing Sri Lanka’s score of232/9, all England could manage was 212 as Lasith Malinga bowled brilliantly totake the Island Nation home.