[ad_1]
For some teams, the World Cup is just beginning. They are looking forward to making it to the knockout rounds and beyond. The excitement in those squads is palpable. But for a few others, the tournament is virtually over and every remaining match only seems to add to the agony. You have to play on, but inside, you are breaking or perhaps already broken.
Teams go through highs and lows in any sport, but when they implode in the World Cup, it is less defeat and more disintegration – their conviction too can go down rapidly with sputtering form and confidence.
Who ever thought England would lead that list of listless teams? Landing in a country which is no longer alien to any cricketer thanks to the Indian Premier League, the 2019 World Cup winners were seen as the team to beat and unfortunately almost every succeeded in beating them. The England players simply can’t wait to disappear.
Eoin Morgan was England’s modern cricket pioneer, a Pied Piper. Yes, he only led a white-ball revolution, but in keeping with how limited-overs cricket dominates discussion, it has had huge impact in England and beyond. It shook England out of orthodoxy and the uber aggression advocated by Morgan didn’t just win them their first World Cup, it even helped embrace adventure in Test cricket under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.
There was no inkling, though, of the England implosion that we are seeing in this World Cup. After all, the players in India had adapted all-out belligerence even to succeed in T20, reaching the semi-finals at the delayed World Cup in the UAE in 2021 and then lifting the trophy in Australia in 2022, beating Pakistan in the final after thrashing India by 10 wickets in the semi-final chasing a target of 169.
The Morgan effect has worn thin. England have lost a staggering five of their six games. The batters are a pale shadow of the white-ball enforcers they are. The World Cup, in any sport, is as big as it comes. And when the big teams, filled with big names, flounder, they don’t always go quietly into the night. The kicking and screaming gets entertaining for neutral followers of the sport, and unbearable for those within the camp.
Morgan has added to the discomfort, suggesting that there was division in the England dressing room. The carefully cultivated image has suffered a crack. It may not, after all, be exclusive to Pakistan and Bangladesh as criticism and accusations have followed their failures.
The “there is something within the team that is definitely unsettled” comment by Morgan to Sky Sports before Sunday’s capitulation to India in Lucknow, and he has “never come across a sports team that has underperformed like this England team” seems to have wiped out the joy that was English cricket after the remarkable Ashes fightback in the summer.
The collective batting failure of England has been shocking. Players of the calibre of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Jos Buttler failing repeatedly is bewildering. The elephant in the room is Ben Stokes. England’s 2019 World Cup hero has single-handedly win crunch games, but his inclusion has been controversial as he had to sit out until his hip problem was resolved.
He was rusty in his comeback game, a drubbing by South Africa, and then didn’t even show patience as the brilliant Mohammed Shami dismissed him for a 10-ball duck in Lucknow.
England coach Matthew Mott and all-rounder Chris Woakes have refuted Morgan’s comments of dressing room strife. What has been in the open is Buttler’s poor captaincy.
“We are an incredibly tight-knit unit,” Mott told the media after the 100-run loss to India. “Eoin’s entitled to his opinion and he’s obviously been away for a couple of weeks with the birth of his child. He hasn’t been in and around the rooms. I’ll certainly take that up with him and have a chat with him. We’ve got a really good relationship with him so if he’s seeing something I’m not I’ll definitely have that conversation.”
Teams coming apart can lead to different reactions. If you are Pakistan, expect a great level of drama. The defeat to in-form India at Ahmedabad brought pressure on skipper Babar Azam — he also didn’t convert starts into a big score as Pakistan won only twice in six games ahead of Tuesday’s Bangladesh game.
Former Pakistan stumper Rashid Latif said Azam was under such pressure to retain his job that the cricket board chief had refused to answer his phone call. Now, why would the skipper try to call the board chief in the middle of a World Cup? That is not all. Whatsapp texts that seemingly suggests such a call wasn’t made – a question from a senior board figure and Azam’s reply – were subsequently made public by a Pakistan TV channel, which then blamed PCB chief Zaka Ashraf for that.
England, bottom of the points table, can’t just pick up their bags and go into an early holiday with three league games to play. But if you are the under-fire skipper of Bangladesh, you can at least nip home for a private net session as Shakib Al Hasan did before Tuesday’s game against Pakistan at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.
A mere 240 km by air, that trip barely helped so off-colour has Shakib and his team been. The top-ranked all-rounder in world cricket was distracted coming into the World Cup, slamming omitted opener Tamim Iqbal over his fitness issues. After a defeat to Netherlands, the weakest side on paper in the tournament but punching above their weight, Shakib admitted his team was the worst.
There is a history of other lows. In the 2007 edition in the Caribbean, England were floundering alright but Andrew Flintoff became a butt of jokes after he fell off a pedalo in St Lucia looking for a late-night drink. After he was rescued from the sea and handed a ban, he had to explain his behaviour. England eventually failed to reach the semifinal, despite overhauling a 301-run target to beat West Indies and send Brian Lara into retirement.
India fared worse in that World Cup. Knocked out in the preliminary group stage, reports of disquiet in the dressing room and far ire back home was one of the lowest points in Indian cricket. It was a nightmare for Pakistan after coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room, leading to a murder investigation that went on for years before the case was closed as a natural death.
[ad_2]
Source link