Sehwag shows mirror to England with brutal stat; Hussain, Collingwood spark ‘worst World Cup’ talk as elimination looms
England are all but out of World Cup 2023. Another horrendous batting performance, which has ironically been their strength throughout, against Sri Lanka in the league-stage match on Thursday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru saw England incur a virtual elimination from the tournament. Hoping to bounce back from the 229-run hammering against South Africa, England opted to bat on a pitch that offered spongy bounce and folded for just 156, which was chased down successfully by the 1996 champions in 25.4 overs.
Nasser Hussain, Virender Sehwag have their say on England’s World Cup campaign
The fourth defeat in the campaign for the defending champions, which included a shocker against Afghanistan last week, sparked a telling conversation between former captains Paul Collingwood and Nasser Hussain on Star Sports on whether it was their “worst ever World Cup campaign”.
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Only twice have England incurred four losses in the group stage of a World Cup edition. The other was in 2015, when they were stunned by Bangladesh and were sent soul searching which eventually sparked a white-ball revolution. Bouncing back from the ashes of that humiliation, England bagged the ODI World Cup at home in 2019 and the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022. It was those two stellar runs that made most believe that England could successfully defend their title in India this year, but Jos Buttler’s men have produced a “disappointing” show, leaving experts and veterans shocked at their virtual elimination.
Is this England’s worst-ever World Cup campaign?
Hussain looks back at glory days
But despite what stats may say, Nasser doesn’t believe that it was England’s “worst ever World Cup show”. He rather looked back at England’s domination in white-ball cricket over the last 6-7 years and admitted that it is probably time for a new era in the nation’s cricket history.
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“I have been watching England in World Cups and playing for England in World Cups. Paul Collingwood (also part of the Star Sports panel) has been as well. We were terrible a long long time ago. We have enjoyed the last 6-7 years because they have been quite brilliant. Buttler, Morgan and his men have been outstanding, but have been unravelled here. But it shouldn’t take anything away from them on how they have played in the last 6-7 years. It has been a bridge too far. There will be a new era that will come in.,” he said.
The former England cricketer felt that lack of proper preparation for the 50-over event was the primary cause for England’s downfall, but admitted that he was more hurt by the lack of fight shown by the side as evident from the margin of defeats they incurred against New Zealand, South Africa, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
“It has been hugely disappointing. If I can put my finger on is may be the preparation. There was the Ashes and then they had three games against New Zealand which was the only series where they had the time to knit their 50-over team. Not just the defeat, but the nature of it – they were walloped by New Zealand, South Africa and Afghanistan, and they hardly turned the lights on here in Bengaluru and Sri Lanka have got over the line. They can have no complaints at all,” he said.
Collingwood still hopeful of a turnaround
Collingwood laughed off at the ‘worst World Cup campaign’ talk and rather urged Buttler’s men to pick themselves up and gear up to pull off a stunner against India on Sunday in Lucknow.
“If you think this is the worst World Cup campaign ever, we had had some shockers in the past. How they are going to get their troops going again? You just have to go man to man, look in the mirror and just remember how good a player you are and the reason why you became the No. 1 white-ball team in the world. You got two World Cup titles under your belt. If you go back and watch your old footage then remind yourself how good a player you can be and go out there and try to give yourselves the best shot in terms of confidence, which is what they need on Sunday against India. That will be the most sought after game in your entire life and there is every chance they can flip things just like that,” he said.
Former India batter Virender Sehwag however held no punches as he handed England a brutal reminder of their past World Cup shows saying that barring the 2019 edition, they have failed to make the semis in seven of the last eight tournaments.
“England in 50 over one day international cricket has been a very mediocre side. Apart from the 2019 World cup at Home, in the last 8 attempts they have failed to make the semis 7 times. Not having a steady side and too much chopping & changing and wrongly thinking that they are as exciting in ODI’s as they are in Tests cost them, ” he posted.
England will play their sixth league game on Sunday against India. A loss would officially knock them out of the World Cup.
