Posted by Stuart Broad cited batting complacency as the main reason for England losing to the Netherlands. Ashley Giles agreed, saying that was the only possible reason for the defeat.
“They’re not playing well enough to be complacent,” pointed out Mike Atherton.
We’re not as downbeat as you might think about this result. There’s been a lot of instant ire from England fans, but this was just getting splashed by a passing car after being run over by a 4×4 – a final indignity before the ambulance arrives.
Cricketers think momentum’s a positive thing, but England have had negative momentum all winter and so a dead Twenty20 match against an associate nation was always likely to be the perfect way to round things off. The will to win will always triumph when pitted against a fear of failure and this was a match where England had nothing to gain. They’re not a particularly good Twenty20 side at the best of times, but downbeat and struggling for motivation, they’re absolutely toss.
Winter over.
I blame Ashley Giles-Clarke.
We blame Laura Ashley Giles Clarke Kent County Cricket Club.
I can’t even.
I’m not downbeat either, not about this result anyway. English cricket has for decades avoided change and responsibility by clinging to pointless results. “We beat New Zealand,” goes the cry, “Everything in the garden is now officially rosy.” The Sri Lanka match was in danger of doing just that. Only abject humiliation is good enough for England.
There’s a tendency to say: “We’ve played some good cricket.”
What’s the alternative? That you played absolutely no good cricket whatsoever at any point during an entire tournament?
I thought dropping Jade, was going to make everything fine. So we get beaten by the Dutch without our scapegoat.
We worked it out. His performances give the batsmen confidence.
The important thing is that England keep putting their team ethics in the right areas.
At least they’re happy now as a team. What more could anyone want than a team which is happy?
it’s going to look great on ashley giles’ cv though, eh?
To Kevin Pietersen’s credit, he hasn’t done a lot of finger pointing and smirking in the tweeterer world.
The fact that has to be pointed out speaks volumes.
doesn’t have to, does he..?
I just laughed when I saw the scorecard. No KP to make the scapegoat this time.
Next up for England – Scotland in May. Surely they can’t lose that. Can they?
Did anyone not see this coming? This “upset” was so predictable, it doesn’t even deserve that label really.
At least Giles apologised to the stakeholders.
Something amusing to cheer you up.
Bill Bryson’s description of cricket and cricket commentary on the radio in Australia in his book
‘Notes from Down Under’
I’ll see if I can get a link.
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=14&doc_id=1285310
I found it under ‘Bill Bryson on cricket’ in EE Times
Not that anyone except me cares, but half a game in, the Mariners look to be as crappy as ever, so I won’t get any baseball shaped respite from the general atrocity of England and Leicestershire.
If England were a Southern Asian country, the anti-corruption unit would be all over the England set up like a rash after this dead rubber result.
Perhaps double standards. Perhaps a cultural expectation that such a match in such circumstances was likely to produce an implosion. Thoroughly unprofessional whatever the “reason”.
Only two positives to be taken from this tournament for England:
* the thorough humiliation was not “utter” humiliation, because we did beat one major team;
* by that token, the Aussies have been even more humiliated than England.
Mind you, I can see the Aussies venting their spleen by bullying the poor little Bangles in a few hours time, in that cowardly, cat-kicking manner that the English would always be too polite to deploy on the field of play against a lesser cricketing power. By gosh, I’m proud to be.
“I can see the Aussies venting their spleen by bullying the poor little Bangles”
– hayden’s coming out of retirement specially for this match, i heard.
there are positives for england, it’s true. what gets me is the way that people in the setup (especially broad) keep saying that results have to get better from here, as if sports results were just a cyclic phenomenon completely beyond anyone’s control. i can assure him this is not the case, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that things will “just get better”. for that to happen, england may have to start playing well.
i know, it sounds almost mystical when put that way… but that’s the reality guys..!
All I can say is thank God its over. Its going to be nice to have a couple of months off of England.
amen