The Lawspeaker
06-06-2009, 12:35 PM
Clogs 1 Clots 0 (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/cricket/2467515/England-lose-World-Twenty20-opener.html)
BUNGLING Stuart Broad's catastrophic final over of missed chances sealed a catastrophic result for England.
This defeat was embarrassing, terrible and totally unexpected.
Paul Collingwood's team, so confident and so composed in recent weeks, were beaten by Holland in the opening clash of the World Twenty20.
That's Holland, the country of orange shirts, tulips and sexual liberation. And now we can say the country of cricket.
England failed to score enough runs after a century opening stand between Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara - and then bowled and fielded with a panicky ill-discipline that betrayed their standing as international cricketers.
It was the minnows who kept their composure better in the thrilling, nerve-shredding final overs and they deserved their victory by four wickets from the last delivery.
England must beat Pakistan at The Oval tomorrow to have any chance of advancing to the second phase of the competition.
Broad missed three run-out chances in the last over and also spilled a caught and bowled opportunity.
This was the man hit for six sixes in an over by India's Yuvraj Singh in the 2007 World Twenty20 - so it is fair to assume it is not his favourite event.
Broad is usually so self-assured and smart-thinking that his errors were a surprise.
But it would be wrong to heap all the blame on his slender shoulders - after all, he began the final over with Holland needing just seven runs for victory.
England have a nightmare record in global cricket events. They have not won in 15 attempts and are the only major nation not to lift a trophy.
This result suggests that sorry sequence will continue and is not a great omen for the remainder of this Ashes summer.
OK, it is all a bit of a laugh England losing to the Dutch but an early exit by the host nation would remove much of the lustre from this tournament. It would be a sporting disaster.
And what is it about Holland? I remember an England side including the likes of Nasser Hussain and Derek Pringle losing in Amsterdam 20 years ago.
Holland also won when England visited a few years later.
The tangerine army - and there were quite a few Holland supporters among the 23,000 crowd - went apoplectic as Collingwood and his men were left in a state of shock.
Enjoying having the captaincy back now, Colly?
Add Kevin Pietersen's latest injury and a shambles of an opening ceremony - well, it wasn't so much of a shambles as non-existent - and it was a grim day for English cricket.
Everything was going smoothly in the match as Wright and Bopara put on 102 for England's first wicket in 11.2 overs.
But the other batsmen could not sustain the scoring rate and just 73 runs came from the final 10 overs.
The medics think Pietersen's Achilles injury might be linked to a problem in his lower back. This is a concern with The Ashes less than five weeks away.
KP's power was badly missed as England's middle-order struggled to accelerate. Holland's run chase was given a flying start by Derron Reekers, who whacked Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson for sixes, and then Tom de Grooth plundered 49 from 30 deliveries.
Peter Borren, who is really a Kiwi, contributed 30 and then Ryan ten Doeschate marshalled his team over the winning line.
The star attraction at yesterday's opening ceremony was due to be the comely Alesha Dixon.
But she was binned because of rain - yet they made time for speeches from ICC president David Morgan and the Duke of Kent.
Poor Alesha then had the dubious privilege of some attention from straw boater-wearing MCC members. They probably hadn't seen many girls like her at Lord's before.
Little did they know that an even greater shock was awaiting them.
(article contains a sideshow and pictures)
BUNGLING Stuart Broad's catastrophic final over of missed chances sealed a catastrophic result for England.
This defeat was embarrassing, terrible and totally unexpected.
Paul Collingwood's team, so confident and so composed in recent weeks, were beaten by Holland in the opening clash of the World Twenty20.
That's Holland, the country of orange shirts, tulips and sexual liberation. And now we can say the country of cricket.
England failed to score enough runs after a century opening stand between Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara - and then bowled and fielded with a panicky ill-discipline that betrayed their standing as international cricketers.
It was the minnows who kept their composure better in the thrilling, nerve-shredding final overs and they deserved their victory by four wickets from the last delivery.
England must beat Pakistan at The Oval tomorrow to have any chance of advancing to the second phase of the competition.
Broad missed three run-out chances in the last over and also spilled a caught and bowled opportunity.
This was the man hit for six sixes in an over by India's Yuvraj Singh in the 2007 World Twenty20 - so it is fair to assume it is not his favourite event.
Broad is usually so self-assured and smart-thinking that his errors were a surprise.
But it would be wrong to heap all the blame on his slender shoulders - after all, he began the final over with Holland needing just seven runs for victory.
England have a nightmare record in global cricket events. They have not won in 15 attempts and are the only major nation not to lift a trophy.
This result suggests that sorry sequence will continue and is not a great omen for the remainder of this Ashes summer.
OK, it is all a bit of a laugh England losing to the Dutch but an early exit by the host nation would remove much of the lustre from this tournament. It would be a sporting disaster.
And what is it about Holland? I remember an England side including the likes of Nasser Hussain and Derek Pringle losing in Amsterdam 20 years ago.
Holland also won when England visited a few years later.
The tangerine army - and there were quite a few Holland supporters among the 23,000 crowd - went apoplectic as Collingwood and his men were left in a state of shock.
Enjoying having the captaincy back now, Colly?
Add Kevin Pietersen's latest injury and a shambles of an opening ceremony - well, it wasn't so much of a shambles as non-existent - and it was a grim day for English cricket.
Everything was going smoothly in the match as Wright and Bopara put on 102 for England's first wicket in 11.2 overs.
But the other batsmen could not sustain the scoring rate and just 73 runs came from the final 10 overs.
The medics think Pietersen's Achilles injury might be linked to a problem in his lower back. This is a concern with The Ashes less than five weeks away.
KP's power was badly missed as England's middle-order struggled to accelerate. Holland's run chase was given a flying start by Derron Reekers, who whacked Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson for sixes, and then Tom de Grooth plundered 49 from 30 deliveries.
Peter Borren, who is really a Kiwi, contributed 30 and then Ryan ten Doeschate marshalled his team over the winning line.
The star attraction at yesterday's opening ceremony was due to be the comely Alesha Dixon.
But she was binned because of rain - yet they made time for speeches from ICC president David Morgan and the Duke of Kent.
Poor Alesha then had the dubious privilege of some attention from straw boater-wearing MCC members. They probably hadn't seen many girls like her at Lord's before.
Little did they know that an even greater shock was awaiting them.
(article contains a sideshow and pictures)