Defending champions England are facing misery in the Cricket World Cup 2023 as they bring out their worst possible performance in the last four years and are officially out of the semifinal contention.
For all the English cricket supporters who’ve traveled to India with tickets from the ticket marketplace, it is disappointing to see the English team collapse.
From being favorites to win the side, with few of the best talents in the world, England now sit in the bottom tier of the points table, with another agonizing defeat against Australia.
With the likes of experienced campaigners such as captain Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Mark Wood, and Moeen Ali, the onus was on the English to rattle the rest of the World Cup sides and have an easy way through.
But, all of this was a fairytale.
Defeats against Afghanistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka have dealt a heavy blow to England’s World Cup title defense.
But the final nail in the coffin came when they lost to their arch-rivals, Australia. It is official now – England is out of the World Cup.
For the English and the fans with tickets from the ticket marketplace, it was disheartening to watch England bat. Having bundled out Australia for 283 runs, the thought of winning against Australia was on the cards.
The Bengaluru ground had savored some exciting clashes in this Cricket World Cup for the ticketholders from the ticket marketplace, and England thought they had the win.
But, it was back to base one as the English batting disappointed, as they were all out for 253 runs.
With hope dwindling, Australia celebrated as they made the semifinals with David Warner embracing Marnus Labuschagne in joy.
By then, most English fans with ticket marketplace tickets were out of the stadium, burying their sorrows in high spirits.
A month before the World Cup, England’s captain had shared a jovial comment joking that fast bowler James Anderson might even have a chance at a 50-over recall. But now his smiles are melancholy, reflecting on the team’s misery.
When Buttler confronted the media, he did not shy away from showing his frustration. Buttler replied, “I’m having a great time, thanks. Frustrated, yeah, disappointed. Yeah, all of the above.” England is undoubtedly in pain.
For Buttler, he has had difficulty finding his form in the Indian pitches. These pitches are familiar to him; he’s had the luck of scoring several match-winning knocks for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, but fate has not turned for him in this year’s World Cup.
Other players for England, such as Dawid Malan, Mark Wood, and Joe Root, were also vocal about their inability to explain the current form for England.
All of these players were bringing in exceptional performances in the run-up to the World Cup, justifying their places. For Joe Root, who’s been a regular in the scoresheet, this might be agonizing.
His inability to convert the 20s and the 30s into bigger scores is the apparent issue in this year’s tournament for him, where the team needs an anchor to unleash the power hitters at the bottom.
Ben Stokes, recalled from ODI retirement for the World Cup, has been a silent fighter in England’s World Cup run this time. With the top order collapsing, Stokes has had to adapt and play a more defensive game at 4-down.
He was the team’s top scorer against Australia as well, scoring 64 off 90 balls, something that is not Ben Stokes-like. A player who has defied the strike rate and scored freely is now given the responsibility to anchor an innings.
The once swaggering and entertaining team has lost its winning spark, and the result is a team that no longer remembers its winning formula, with Buttler epitomizing the team’s woes.
However, Buttler can’t bear all the blame. Other key players like Root and Stokes have struggled, too. Their ability to dominate the world’s best has been overshadowed by uncertainty, resulting in disappointing performances.
For a time in limited-overs cricket, England cricket was the brand of cricket that every other nation wanted to replicate and follow – fearless cricket. This also saw most England games selling out in the ticket marketplace.
But the team failed in the biggest stage of the game.
The England team has fallen far from its previous heights. The England-Australia match, traditionally a marquee World Cup clash, lost its significance as England played only for pride while Australia knew they could lose and still reach the semifinals.
This shows how far the English side has fallen.
In contrast, Australia has done well to overcome their initial setbacks to make it to the semifinals.
After losing the opener against India, they’ve gone on to win the last five games and are through to the semifinals.
With brilliant catches and youthful enthusiasm, they demonstrated a turnaround England could have achieved.
Now, England have another challenge ahead of them. With the recently released qualification criteria for the 2025 Champions Trophy, all the top 8 teams in the World Cup will automatically qualify for the event.
The teams who finish lower than this will have to play a qualifier. So England have their work cut out – win against the Netherlands and hope to finish in the top 8.
Champions Trophy 2025 – Qualification
With the top 7 teams, including Afghanistan, India, and Australia, already qualified for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan, the space opens up for the rest of the bottom-tier teams to get their qualification sorted in time. Fans from the qualified nations will already plan to book their tickets from the ticket marketplace for the 2025 event.
It has been a while since Pakistan hosted an international tournament, and the ICC hopes it will reignite the sport in the country.
The decisive win for Afghanistan over the Netherlands got them their place in the 2025 Champions Trophy. Now Sri Lanka and one of the Netherlands or England can join Afghanistan on eight points, as the remaining two teams behind are effectively out of the running.
Sri Lanka, currently on four points with two matches left to play, can secure their qualification but need two wins. For the Netherlands, it is going to be two difficult fixtures.
The games against England and India are must-win if they want to be safe and have automatic qualification.
England, sitting at two points but with three games left, still has a theoretical path to reach eight points and qualify, but they need to win at least one game to have a chance.
The spotlight is on these three teams, but currently, Sri Lanka has an advantage in terms of Net Run Rate despite the disappointing loss to India.
