Watching England lose never gets old

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YOU didn't have to be from Bangladesh to mark it down as the most enjoyable moment of the World Cup.

Watching the England cricket team sink without trace, especially when playing in Australia, is one of sport's purest pleasures — and it never gets old.

It is, of course, unsportsmanlike and disrespectful to say so, but, hey, that's the way it's been for nearly 150 years of one of the world's most passionate sporting rivalries — and it works in reverse, too.

That's why the derision being heaped on the heads of the poor old Poms diluted the applause for the east Asian battlers, who have never had a finer moment.

Bangladesh fans celebrate their team's win over England. Source: AFP

The Bangas may have been sold short. This was the third time in four one-dayers they have knocked England off, and just as Ireland, with a faint air of indignation, declared their defeat of the West Indies was not an upset, this may have been no aberration either.

England's embarrassment is acute. There will not be enough back doors to sneak through when they get home a fortnight ahead of schedule.

We might be chortling here, but as always the worst savaging has come from their own camp followers.

Sir Ian Botham said a week ago they were the worst one-day side England had ever fielded, and predictably Geoffrey Boycott couldn't get stuck in hard enough.

England the Adelaide Oval after their loss to Bangladesh. Source: Getty Images

"They're not as good as some think they are," Boycott wrote. "Most have been in denial, kidding themselves they have been unlucky, but it is impossible to be unlucky all the time."

He said heads must roll, a response of which the English were fond of hundreds of years ago. There has been no shortage of seconders.

If it was no laughing matter in London, it was in other unlikely places.

Someone in Malaysia tweeted: "When can we play them?"

And from Japan: "Dear ECB_cricket, this might not be a great time but as there is room in your schedule, fancy a game in Japan on your way home? #challenge"

Having been whitewashed 5-0 the last time they were here, English cricket is again in disarray a few months ahead of the next Ashes battle, so some big decisions loom.

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Not least will be a rethink, surely, on exiled batting star Kevin Pietersen, who spent the first half of the summer making good runs in the Big Bash League and then repaired to a Caribbean resort to watch — with barely disguised amusement — the disaster unfold.

And that's what it was. In five matches England have beaten only winless Scotland and cannot be considered cast-iron certainties against Afghanistan on Friday.

In 11 attempts they have never won the World Cup, losing the final three times, and since the last of those, in Melbourne in 1992, six tournaments have produced only five wins against Test nations.

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This was one of the worst denouements because Bangladesh tried hard to throw away the win with a simple dropped catch and some ordinary death bowling.

They were rescued by a magnificent final four balls by their best quick, Rubel Hossain, who bowled fast, full and straight — a simple strategy that doesn't get employed often enough.

They will now almost certainly play their quarter-final against India at the MCG tomorrow week in front of a huge crowd in a pulsating atmosphere.

It's not what Melbourne was expecting — but it might be a better spectacle than England could have been relied on to produce.

ron.reed@news.com.au

Twitter: @Reedrw

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