England ended their winter of discontent on a new low as they were beaten by minnows Netherlands at the World Twenty20 in Chittagong.
With neither side able to reach the semi-finals, the Dutch raced to 84-1 in 11 overs before Ravi Bopara’s stint of 1-15 limited them to 133-5. In reply, England were all out for just 88 as Bopara top-scored with 18. England’s 45-run loss echoed the four-wicket reverse they suffered at the hands of the Dutch at Lord’s in 2009. If 12 defeats in 13 matches against Australia on the Ashes tour was difficult to explain, a comprehensive thrashing by a part-time team who do not play Test cricket was even more difficult to fathom. It was certainly difficult viewing for interim coach Ashley Giles in his quest to be given the job on a permanent basis. “Today was pretty embarrassing, it was a poor, poor performance,” Giles said. “I still believe I can do the job for England, it’s for other people to decide whether I can or not.” In their first afternoon match of the tournament – and so with dew less of a factor – England opted to field first and were still guilty of three dropped chances of varying degrees of difficulty. The Netherlands, who lost by only six runs to South Africa, made an impressive start with six fours in the first three overs as they rattled up 32. Jade Dernbach, who conceded 26 in his final over against the South Africans, was omitted in favour of left-arm spinner Stephen Parry, but the Lancastrian was also expensive, conceding from his opening six balls. With England’s bowlers beginning to restrict the scoring, Chris Jordan produced a moment of magic when he ran back from mid-off and
nonchalantly caught the ball in his left hand, before pouching his dislodged sunglasses with similar panache in his right. But though only two fours and a six were scored in the final nine overs, that catch proved to be the solitary highlight for England. Against innocuous medium pace bowling, the batting disintegrated. Of the three players to reach double figures, only Jordan scored at a run a ball. Alex Hales, a match-winning centurion as England beat the top-ranked T20 side Sri Lanka last week, missed with an attempted pull and was bowled in the fifth over as England fell to 42-5 at the halfway stage. Hopes rested with Bopara but he was caught in the deep in the 16th over, another England batsman powerless to prevent defeat. – BBC Sport
