by Durhamfootman » Mon Oct 30, 2023 11:23 am
nothing sinister, imo, just a lot of hubristic assumptions that they could simply rock up, fresh from the physio bench and fresh from the golf course and everything would still be okay. Of course once it didn't, it all fell apart rather rapidly as these things tend to do with England. They are now in cycle of collapse where even the Netherlands look favourite to win their head to head
and now, only yesterday, we discover, out of the blue, that 2 years ago it was decided at a big meeting of the ICC, that final positions in the group stages of this world cup would be used to determine which 7 nations plus Pakistan (as hosts) participate in the next Champions Trophy. I say out of the blue, because it transpires that the entirety of the England team from the management to the players to the backroom staff, were completely unaware of this. As were SL, btw. And yet the ECB were represented on that ICC meeting and failed to cascade that bit of information down to the people who needed to know (Tom Harrison's time, so we probably shouldn't be surprised.... he had other priorities and perhaps assumed that England as world champs probably didn't need to know, or that knowing would somehow add to the pressure... or something ridiculous... it won't have been sheer incompetence, because the ECB don't do sheer incompetence... everyone knows that)
So unless England finish in the top 7 (or 8 if Pakistan finish above England) then England won't be playing in a 50 over global tournament for another 4 years
wouldn't it be ironic if England could only finish 8th by beating Pakistan into 9th, and therefore failing to qualify anyway, so not only are England in dire need of a turnaround in fortunes themselves, but they also need Pakistan to suddenly reverse their fortunes and push themselves higher up the table to have any chance of squeaking top 8 by beating Holland and Pakistan (they will not beat Australia) in the last 2 matches
As usual, everything about the ECB and England is a complete *modded* shambles
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