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It’s a scary thought, but England have only got one more chance to resume normal service. They’re in the final of the World Twenty20, so it’s all-or-nothing.
Seasoned England watchers know their side has the ability to take this opportunity to get back to normal underperformance, but set against that is the fact that a worrying number of players are looking confident.
Uncertainty and lack of confidence are qualities that England have relied upon when they’ve found themselves in strong positions in the past, but they quite simply don’t have the time to lose confidence before the final. No matter how badly net practice goes, it would take an extraordinary effort to erode the mental strength they have right now.
The tactic has to be to get that confidence to tip over into cockiness. England are less adept at this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Maybe it’s got something to do with there being only one English batsman in the top 5. He’s delivered underperformance with the bat quite effectively but by the time he’s out, we’ve already established our innings?
Negatives to take from the win:
> Colly still hasn’t made a decent score. His job was a simple finishing off routine but decided it would be more fun to let Morgan do it.
This is akin to getting your mate to help you move in, and then when he only has to move one box falls over and you have to do it anyway.
> Tim Bresnan had a bad day at the office for the first time in the tournament. Just reminds you that England’s bowlers have been doing their level best in every game and need to keep there or else.
> England are one injury away from playing Ravi Bopara.
Enough?
Pakistan have been paid to beat Australia and then lose to England in the final, it takes the gloss off the whole thing.
Did you mean a cricketing box? why did it fail?
If Pakistan do beat Australia in the semis, that might be the cockiness-inducing-moment to which KC alludes.
How do you “pay a side to win”, btw, thesaurus, other than simply paying them as normal?
I was thinking in terms of moving, i.e. moving house, with cardboard boxes.
Carboard boxes won’t offer much protection to your genitals.
It depends what from. They’re extremely effective against sunburn.
Being in Britain is pretty good protection from that.
What about cricket balls striking the gonads? What about protection from that?
No, not much protection against a cricket ball strike, I’ll grant you that much. A half-pear-shaped piece of high density plastic with a padded edge inserted into the jockstrap is better for that.
One of the guys I play with has never worn a box. In the circumstances I feel a cardboard box would be more effective than no box at all.
The chap that doesn’t wear a box is a bit of a mental, to be fair to him Bobby K. And I would guess he’s probably in a minority of 1 in leaving out that piece of protective equipment. I also find the chap at our landlords ground that never wears batting gloves slightly perturbing.
We won’t even so much as wash our face without a box on.
It’s not worth the risk.
I never used to wear one when playing for my school in my early-teens. Probably accounted for my Tufnell-esque trigger foot movements.
That’s Brave KC, I won’t even shower without a box.
Thread derailment: SUCCESSFUL
Proud statement of never having willingly worn a box. One time people were insisting on it, I shoved a cap into my undies. That was it. I do like sniffing boxes though.