Former England captain Mike Atherton summed up the feelings of shocked fans after the side’s stunning four-wicket loss to rank outsiders the Netherlands in the World Twenty20 opener at Lord’s.
“If England can’t beat a country that has 6,000 cricketers and seven grass pitches....,” Atherton said on Sky Sports television.
He did not finish the sentence, but then again he did not need to after what was England’s most humiliating defeat in any form of one-day cricket.
PHOTO: AFP
After being 102 without loss, a succession of England batsmen threw their wickets away on Friday following a century stand between Ravi Bopara (46) and Luke Wright (71).
And while the hosts could not manage a single six, the Dutch — a side mainly made up of part-timers — slammed four.
Man-of-the-match Tom de Grooth led the way with 49 off 30 balls including a six and six fours as the non-Test playing Associate side reached their target of 163 off the last ball of the innings.
De Grooth is a cricket coach in the Netherlands, and several ex-England players said that the home side could do with a few lessons.
“It was a shambolic performance in the end — it shaded on embarrassing at times,” former England opener Nick Knight said. “We should never have lost a game like that.”
England, who were without the injured Kevin Pietersen, must new beat Pakistan at The Oval on today to have a chance of qualifying for the second stage.
Nasser Hussain, another former England captain, said: “Holland looked very nervous for the first 10 overs, like the occasion got to them.”
“But when they started to believe, England started thinking, ‘We might be one or two players short here,’” he said. “I’m not sure about the England tactics, or the balance of the side. There was no Mascarenhas, no Graham Napier. A lot of nudgers and nurdlers but no big hitters.”
Newspapers also commented.
The Daily Express branded it “humiliation”, comparing England’s “most embarrassing defeat” in limited overs cricket to “a rocking horse winning the Grand National.”
“All the hope and expectation for a memorable summer was trashed by the men in orange, who could never have dreamed of coming to the headquarters of cricket and beating the hosts of the World Twenty20,” it said.
“Clogs 1, Clots 0,” The Sun reported.
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