Three hours to almost win it. One minute to lose it. I’m not sure I can believe what I just saw. What looked like it was going to be a glorious night for English cricket suddenly turned into an all too familiar kick in the crotch. I suppose we should’ve guessed. I’m not going to get into the finer points of the game. I bet most of you saw it anyway. I guess the best synopsis is this: the West Indies dominated the first half hour of the contest and the last five minutes...
Is England’s Name On The Cup Again?
I love it when England reach finals in any sport. I always get butterflies 24 hours ahead of the game, even though I’m now in my fourth decade and a signed up member of the grumpy old man association. Although Sunday’s World T20 final certainly isn’t the biggest game of all time – it certainly feels less important than the 1992 World Cup final, slightly less important than the 2010 WT20 final, and a lot less important than the seminal 2003 rugby World Cup final (ahem) – it’s still an exciting...
Just Superb: England Reach World T20 Final
We’ve been waiting an awfully long time for an England limited overs side to put in a complete performance. Many of us doubted whether it was even possible. But today is finally happened. And it happened on a big stage and on a big occasion too. I’m not sure what happened to the bowling attack that represented England in the group stages (and warm up matches), but today they were nowhere to be seen. Instead we fielded a crack outfit that performed with discipline, accuracy and...
What’s Next? Can England Go All The Way?
Aside from the organisational cockups at the beginning, and the fact that associate nations effectively had to qualify for the tournament twice, this has been a pretty good World T20 thus far. We’ve had some very close games, the odd upset – Afghanistan take a bow – and some big teams going home early. Of course, it always helps if the team you’re supporting does well. My favourite football World Cup has always been Italia 90 because England were just a Chris Waddle penalty away from winning...
Hello Semi Finals
Not long ago, Sri Lanka were crowned World T20 champions. England were humiliated by Holland and sent packing. How things change. The Sri Lankans are a shadow of their former selves. They’ve lost far too much talent over the last eighteen months and the guys coming through don’t look much cop. They rely far too much on Angelo Mathews, their only remaining champion batsman. England on the other hand are slowly getting there. We’re not the most talented team in the world, but...
Mo Need To Worry: Ali Rescues England
Oh dear. That was almost a complete calamity. The words ‘do I not like Orange’ kept swirling around my head. But luckily one man stood up and said “I will not play like a complete buffoon today”. That man was Moeen Ali, whose precious 41 saved England from an utter Kabuls-up. England actually started off ok. We reached 42-1 in the first 5 overs before James Vince, who was deputising for the crocked Alex Hales, chipped a simple catch back to Nabi. Things then got worse...
