Breaking/Brief news
April 18, 2007
England out of the World Cup
So its going to be New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa for the semi-finals. You could have predicted that at the start of the tournament fairly easily I suppose, so no major surprises there. And you can't complain with that either, these four sides have been pretty much the most consistent four we've seen through out the tournament and they deserve to be there more then anyone else.
Yesterday's crucial clash between England and the Proteas, which decided the final member of the semi-final bound group, was another of the many utterly one-sided matches in this World Cup. England were bowled out for a sub-200 score batting first and then SA chased the runs down in a real hurry with the loss of just one wicket, Smith getting an unbeaten 80 odd.
Though I watched very little of the match, I do gather that Andrew Hall bowled spectacularly well on what was a pretty decent surface to bat on, certainly going by the South African batting card and how quickly Smith scored, it can't have been all that difficult to bat on.
Andrew McGlashan in the Cricinfo bulletin has been pretty severe on England saying they "didn't bother to show up" and criticism from ex-players and the media has also been coming thick and fast, with Beefy, amongst others, suggesting it was time for Fletcher and Vaughan to go.
Finally, some one has realised। I have never understood the English obsession with Vaughan, he's supposedly a real captaincy genius, but I think this is more of a myth as far as a one-day cricket is concerned.
Tim de Lisle did an article on this a couple of days ago and even though he admitted how poor Vaughan's one-day record was (80 odd matches for an average of less then 25, no 100s and a strike rate in the mid 60s), he still some how believed England weren't wrong to pick him ("he is worth a place, just, as a puppeteer alone").
Well then, there you go. If you insist on picking people who are worth there place just as a "puppeteer" then you can't expect to go much beyond England have in this tournament. Enjoy the flight back home. And for the English fans, my sympathies, but don't be too disappointed, at least this will rid you of Vaughan from your one-day side for good, and that can't be all that bad, now can it be?
Yesterday's crucial clash between England and the Proteas, which decided the final member of the semi-final bound group, was another of the many utterly one-sided matches in this World Cup. England were bowled out for a sub-200 score batting first and then SA chased the runs down in a real hurry with the loss of just one wicket, Smith getting an unbeaten 80 odd.
Though I watched very little of the match, I do gather that Andrew Hall bowled spectacularly well on what was a pretty decent surface to bat on, certainly going by the South African batting card and how quickly Smith scored, it can't have been all that difficult to bat on.
Andrew McGlashan in the Cricinfo bulletin has been pretty severe on England saying they "didn't bother to show up" and criticism from ex-players and the media has also been coming thick and fast, with Beefy, amongst others, suggesting it was time for Fletcher and Vaughan to go.
Finally, some one has realised। I have never understood the English obsession with Vaughan, he's supposedly a real captaincy genius, but I think this is more of a myth as far as a one-day cricket is concerned.
Tim de Lisle did an article on this a couple of days ago and even though he admitted how poor Vaughan's one-day record was (80 odd matches for an average of less then 25, no 100s and a strike rate in the mid 60s), he still some how believed England weren't wrong to pick him ("he is worth a place, just, as a puppeteer alone").
Well then, there you go. If you insist on picking people who are worth there place just as a "puppeteer" then you can't expect to go much beyond England have in this tournament. Enjoy the flight back home. And for the English fans, my sympathies, but don't be too disappointed, at least this will rid you of Vaughan from your one-day side for good, and that can't be all that bad, now can it be?
Labels: 2007 world cup, andrew hall, england, graeme smith, ian botham, south africa, vaughan, world cup
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