SEVEN & HELL
England’s misery finally over
ENGLAND have finally been put out of their World Cup misery after hopes of a consolation win over Australia were scuppered by another lame effort with the bat.
Realistically, they were already out. But it was in keeping with what must go down as one of the worst World Cup defences in any sport that their fate was mathematically sealed by the old enemy.
The pressure already mounting on captain Jos Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott has gone up another notch.
If any moment summed up both this latest defeat — by 33 runs — and the haplessness of the past month, it came when Jos Buttler lofted Adam Zampa straight to Cameron Green at long-off, and trudged off for a single.
England’s captain has cut an increasingly careworn figure here, unable either to diagnose his team’s travails, nor prevent them. His latest misadventure left him with a tally of 106 runs at an average of 15 — truly a travesty for a player of his talents.
‘My own form has been the most frustrating thing, in a pivotal position in the batting line-up,’ he said. ‘To play as poorly as that has had a big effect on the team.
‘But it doesn’t shake my belief. You guys will give up on me earlier than I give up on myself.’
Chasing 287, England lost Jonny Bairstow from the first ball, caught down the leg side off Mitchell Starc, and Joe Root soon after.
Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes made careful fifties, but Malan topedged a hook off Pat Cummins, and Stokes paddle-swept leg-spinner Zampa to short fine leg for 64, shouting ‘Oh no!’ as he played the stroke. The expression may as well be the team’s epitaph.
All that remains now is for England to sneak into eighth place and qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy. To achieve even that lowly goal, though, the Netherlands must first be beaten in Pune on Wednesday, then Pakistan vanquished in Kolkata next Saturday.
Back at the venue where their World Cup nightmare began against New Zealand a month ago, England played as if they have learned little in the meantime. A powerplay score of 38 for two was their lowest of a competition in which they have promised to attack — and failed to deliver.
Bairstow’s duck took his haul here to 141 at 20, Root’s 13 to 188 at 26. Throw in Buttler, and three of the central figures in their 2019 triumph have vanished without trace. Stokes played carefully, yet even his 112 runs in four innings have chewed up 181 balls. He scores more quickly in Tests.
It all meant England spurned the faintest of chances offered by Pakistan’s miraculous victory over New Zealand earlier in the day.
A New Zealand win, which would have guaranteed England’s elimination, looked certain after they racked up 401 for six in Bangalore. But Fakhar Zaman thrashed an 81-ball 126 not out, taking Pakistan ahead on DLS when rain arrived.
England’s bowlers did their bit, with Chris Woakes removing Australia’s dangerous openers David Warner and Travis Head cheaply on his way to four wickets, and Adil Rashid was tidy again.
But they allowed tailender Zampa to bash 29, and 286 always felt too many for a side whose previous four totals had been 215, 170, 156 and 129.
Above all, this game confirmed a curious stubbornness. England have now lost nine of the last 10 ODIs in which they have chased, yet Buttler chose to bowl, and they keep refusing to pick Harry Brook.
England have spent much of the last eight years showing the world how to play white-ball cricket. The sadness from this tournament is that no one in India will miss them when they fly home.