England's crushing six-wicket defeat at the hands of Holland on Friday has been variously described by the English media as "humiliating", "disgraceful", "one of sport's truly historic upsets", "perhaps the most unexpected result seen at Lord's in it's 195 years" and worse.
England's crushing six-wicket defeat at the hands of Holland on Friday has been variously described by the English media as "humiliating", "disgraceful", "one of sport's truly historic upsets", "perhaps the most unexpected result seen at Lord's in it's 195 years" and worse.
England's crushing six-wicket defeat at the hands of Holland on Friday has been variously described by the English media as "humiliating", "disgraceful", "one of sport's truly historic upsets", "perhaps the most unexpected result seen at Lord's in it's 195 years" and worse.
Even as the pre-tournament hysteria and hype about England's chances of winning the Twenty20 World Cup at home all but collapsed in a heap for local supporters, former England captain Mike Atherton graciously termed it "the greatest night in Dutch cricketing history and one of England's worst".
Atherton wrote in his column for a London paper: "The Dutch victory, which came as England's fielding completely disintegrated under pressure, was one of the biggest upsets in one-day cricketing history".
He said it ranked alongside Kenya's victory over West Indies at the 1996 World Cup, and the wins by Zimbabwe over Australia in 1983 and in the 2007 World Twenty20 and Bangladesh over the same opponents in 2005. None though were beaten on home turf and at the headquarters of their cricket".
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The bubble of England's fond hopes pricked by a grossly underrated team by an English media which typically built up unrealistic hopes for their team, the breast-beating has started in real earnest and the knives are out for those perceived as being responsible for what has assumed proportions of a national calamity.
Atherton writes: "Flintoff was allowed to go to the Indian Premier League, where he got injured, as was Pietersen, despite his Achilles tendon injury first flaring up in the Caribbean
"Hugh Morris, the England managing director, needs to take a long, hard look at England's team sheet this morning and ask himself whether everything was done to ensure that England played their strongest side."
England captain Paul Collingwood said after the match: "We came here today expecting to win and there can be no excuses. All credit to the Netherlands, they played better than us today. We might have got a few more runs but I thought we would be able to defend that total."
In the run-up to the tournament, Holland's veteran captain Jeroen Smits had warned that his side would not be intimidated and were capable of putting up a good show. Asked by a cynical reporter to justify his optimism, Smits shot back: "Because we're Dutch".
Elaborating, the skipper added ominously: "The final of this tournament is on 21 June which is my birthday and I intend to be here playing."
Dutch courage? Wishful thinking? Ask Paul Collingwood.
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