Stuart Broad’s refusal to admit that England cannot play spin after they were bowled out for their lowest ever Twenty20 total by India’s Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla, is laughable.

Forums were once again lamenting familiar failings in Sunday evening after Singh and Chawla took 6-25 from 8 overs combined as England slumped to a pathetic 80 all out in Colombo, needing 171 to win.

England will have no chance of winning at this tournament if a side decides to bowl and all spin attack at them.

It has been no secret that in Test, ODIs and T20 cricket, England cannot handle a turning ball, especially on the subcontinent. Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal ripped through England during the winter in the UAE, as an insistence to play the sweep shot saw Andrew Strauss’s Test side lose 3-0 in that series.

England are lucky that they do not have to face Pakistan in the Super Eights of the competition, but no doubt Sunil Narine, George Dockrell and Ajantha Mendis will be licking their lips.

Things are never simple with England, and their preparations were looking all so good for the ICC World T20. Two good warm-up victories and a thrashing of Afghanistan were papering over the cracks of fragile and young batting order. The latest T20 cricket betting odds suggest punters doubt whether England can make it through to the semi-final stage.

Dare we say it, but a certain Kevin Pieteresen can whack any spinner out of the ground in T20 cricket, but his feud with Broad and others in the England dressing room has left cricket lovers worldwide bereft of their deserved entertainment.

You can always get over a defeat, but the thrashing that India handed out to England in a game that was a dead rubber will have knocked confidence whatever ‘spin’ the skipper tries to put on it for the media. Broad’s most ridiculous defence is that the players looked good in the nets. Well in case you didn’t notice Stuart, cricket is played out in the middle – and looking ‘good’ in the nets is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.