Being an England fan is not easy. Ask anyone who supports England. It could be the best, it has the potential everybody would tell you. They could be better. Why aren't they then?

We aren't talking about Bangladesh, who have reached a certain standard, give you glimpses of hope from time to time with incredible victories. We are talking about England, who are not short on talent, or cash, or management, or technology, or coaches. They aren't even limited to picking players from their own country.

Wherever you are from, you can play for England, as long as you are eligible. It doesn't matter where you come from. Your history, your heritage, your blood just do not matter.

Why then does England lose so badly so many times? Why did the team and the fans go from celebrating Ashes 2005, 2009, 2010-11, 2013 wildly to sobbing after Ashes 2006, 2013-14? That's one thing similar between Bangladesh and England. They celebrate their victories so wildly that they probably don't need more. England could easily win more, only if they cared more about winning.

Only if they cared more about winning than their inner differences.

I had felt this about BCCI first, that the board rules the cricketers, as if they are slaves. BCCI asks Indian cricketers to watch their words. ECB selects the team based on personal bias, rather than merit. We have had many many examples of board's perspective being more important than the team winning.

Be it Steven Davies, Owais Shah or Joe Root, ECB chooses players by their personal bias. And with the Kevin Pietersen scenario, they have gone over the top. Had it been India, the crowd would have eaten the selectors alive. Steven Davies has never been selected since he announced he is gay, Joe Root has been supported more than he should have and Kevin Pietersen, from time to time has faced trouble from the ECB. And only the ECB and the god know why Owais Shah was dropped.

England doesn't know how to handle its players. End of the story. Who cares if Kevin Pietersen has an ego? Or if he has no friend in the current English squad. You select the team which makes your country win games. Nobody cares if the players don't get along, with each other or with the board. It's up to the players and the board to solve their conflicts. Only the best shall play.

Firstly, here is how I want the world cup to go:
Quarterfinal 1: England beat Australia
Quarterfinal 2: South Africa beat Netherlands/Ireland
Quarterfinal 3: Pakistan beat India
Quarterfinal 4: Bangladesh beat New Zealand
Semifinal 1: England beat South Africa
Semifinal 2: Pakistan beat Bangladesh
Final: England beat Pakistan

I decided all this without considering the groups and obviously this isn't possible since South Africa, Ireland and Netherlands are in the same group. Thus, South Africa would beat Sri Lanka. I don't like Sri Lanka but too many minnows in quarters may make matches one-sided and thus, boring. In fact, in Group B, I only really like Pakistan and New Zealand. But at least, Australia is lively and has a great rivalry with England. Pakistan is far better than New Zealand because they have got more skills, passion and unpredictability. New Zealand is a side which has only shown potential for years and disappointed, their inferiority complex makes their cricket dull. I have no love for Canada, Kenya or Zimbabwe but at least I've no hatred for them. So I wouldn't mind if they crush Sri Lanka. Here's how teams need to stand in the group stage:
Group B
South Africa
England
Bangladesh
India
Group A
Pakistan
New Zealand
Australia
Canada/Sri Lanka

The reason for choosing Bangladesh as a semifinalist is that their players and fans are very enthusiastic. And the world cup is being held at their home too. They'll cherish every win. India will be humiliated to finish 4th in the group stage. Losing to arch rivals Pakistan, to whom they have never lost a world cup game, will be an icing on the cake.

After clinching their first ever victory over England, Bangladesh came back to their style of playing cricket. Ian Botham had suggested that this is a bowl first pitch and that's what Bangladesh did. Andrew Strauss made 154 from 140 balls, batted till the 46th over, smacking the ball around the park. He struck 16 fours and 5 sixes! No, boundary wasn't as short as South African grounds. Often disregarded as someone who plays with a bad strike rate, England captain Andrew Strauss batted with a good strike rate in all three matches of the series and grabbed the Man Of The Match and the Man Of The Series awards. Trotty did quite well too, with a ton in the 3rd ODI at Edgbaston. I don't really remember any centuries by English batsmen this year except the 2 by Eoin Morgan, against Bangladesh and Australia and the one by Kieswetter against Bangladesh. Strauss and Trott broke a few records today. Their partnership of 250 is the highest for England. Earlier, the record was held by Andrew Flintoff and the man who still holds it, Andrew Strauss (226 against West Indies at Lord's in 2004). Luke Wright was praised for his duck, yeah praised for duck, because he hasn't really scored many runs in the past few matches (past few years would also be appropriate here) but he put the team before himself, he came out to bat in the 41st over, so he needed to go big. Bopara, the comeback batsman provided some entertainment after Strauss went, hitting 45* off 16 deliveries! He could score the fastest half-century beating Sanath Jayasuriya (17 balls). Simon O'Donell (Australia) had scored a half-century in 18 balls and so did Shahid Afridi, twice.
                                                                  Back to the match, England dropped Jimmy to bring in Bressie lad. Actually, dropped for us, they call it "rotation". You could use that word for someone who had been playing a lot, who needed rest and you could rest him since England have got a dozen fast bowlers. Personally, I always wanna see Jimmy play, for reasons other than cricket. I'm not talking about looks, people do have personal choices. That was similar to what Michael Holding said during the match. They were all talking about him. I don't really see the point in bringing in Bresnan for James Anderson. If you want to drop him then why not bring in someone better, someone who can actually pick up wickets, someone like Sidebottom. I wonder why he stayed on the sidelines during the 5 matches against Australia and I wonder why Jimmy stayed on the sidelines during the whole ICC World Twenty20. All right, I understand you gotta have extra players when you are on tour but why Sidebottom? These guys should play for their County teams if they are not playing for England. Bresnan picked up one wicket in the 3rd One day. Shahzad impressed again, getting rid of both the openers. But he pulled a hamstring during his 4th over, went out of the field. He came back after a while (I wonder why, not like he is a fielding all-rounder like Wright) but didn't bowl after that. Wright overstepped the crease and Shakib Al Hasan provided some humour by starting to run when he saw Kieswetter throwing at the stumps. Collingwood even missed it but Shakib didn't try so Colly realized he had more time and took the bails off and the everybody burst into laughter. There was another funny moment, not as funny though, on the next delivery, when Mahmudullah came out to bat and everyone except Kieswetter remembered that it was a free hit. Kiesy started celebrating! Threw the ball so high in the air that the batsmen almost took a single!
There was nothing more in the match to write about. I got pretty bored afterwards. So did the crowd at Edgbaston who left the ground a while before England won. Bangladesh were 111/6 in 22 overs and the required rate was 8.46. After that, they never really tried. As if they had forgotten that they were playing an International match. It looked a net session. England weren't ripping them off and they were just standing at the crease. They were just waiting for 50 overs to finish. Waiting for the game to be over. That's what I waiting for too, but not in that way. I just wanted England to take the wickets and finish it off or Bangladesh to try and lose their wickets after a while. From over 22 to over 37, only 49 runs were scored, 2 of which were maidens. They did hit a few shots after that, especially Shafiul Islam who had given 97 in his 9 overs earlier in the day. Bowled well at Bristol though. Bopara and Yardy took the wickets at the end. Bopara finished with figures of 4 for 38 in 10 overs.

So, England have won an ICC event finally. Now, no one can say that my team have never won an ICC event during banters. Sorry for the late post, didn't have internet. And I could only watch a bit of the semi-final and final live. Watched the earlier games though. I really enjoyed watching them this time, Morgan, Wright, KP and Kieswetter were awesome. Others played well too and Lumb and Kieswetter scored almost the same in some matches but I really enjoyed Kieswetter's reactions while stumping. The victory is rather unbelievable and pleasant. I got to know about it through a news channel the next morning. I've seen England play superbly and lost many times. Referring to the post, "England vs Bangladesh 2nd ODI" I would like to say that Bangladesh wasn't the better side in that match, Morgan proved that England is the better side. No one wants their team to lose but the truth is that the love for your team increases when your team plays well and loses. Now I know why I love England so much. Bangladesh has moments of awesome play in many matches but they fail to win, except against Zimbabwe off course. Bangladesh had the highest percentage of winning ODIs last year. They played mostly against Zimbabwe. Looking forward to the game against Scotland. Cheers for the World Twenty20 win. Until next time, take care.

In my last post, I mentioned the Twenty20s played against Pakistan to talk about Broad's haircut but forgot my purpose. Broad doesn't look feminine or baby-faced anymore but he doesn't look that great either. There have been times when I didn't like his haircut, like when he got it coloured honey blonde (darker than his natural hair colour).
To cricket now, yesterday's match was thrilling. England won it in the records but Bangladesh was the better side. The commentators said that they have defeated all other Test playing nations, I don't remember when they defeated New Zealand though. When Tredwell came out to bat, I thought, either he'll save England from an embarrassment in his debut or everyone will remember his debut. He was calm and Morgan was awesome once again. The English know how to play well and lose and perhaps the English players with origin of other countries know how to win. Alastair became the 2nd English captain after Trescothick to score a half-century in his first two ODIs as captain. And Eoin Morgan became the first player to score centuries for two countries. Lovely.This time Cook brought Wright in the 16th over. Where did that come from? Petals perhaps. Or did he consider history? Like he did while choosing to field in the 1st one-dayer.

The things to watch out for in this series are how new captain Alastair Cook does his job, how new guy Kieswetter plays and where Jimmy Anderson is. I was looking for him during the first match but couldn't find him. No, I didn't forget that he is rested. I just saw someone near the rope and wondered if he is jimmy. It's been so long since he played and he won't play till about May 3rd. The new guy Kieswetter, who made 143 in the 1st warm-up, looked impressive while fielding but not while batting. He is a wicket keeper but he fields well, looked like Irish Cutie Morgan when he was wearing sunglasses. Although these matches are expected to be one sided, they weren't really boring. Alastair panicked a bit. Sidebottom bowled the 37th over, Broad 38th, Collingwood 39th, Swann 40th, Wright 41st, Swann 42nd, Broad 43rd, Bresnan 44th, Broad 45th, Sidebottom 46th. I was waiting for Wright to bowl. I thought may be Cook has forgotten that he bowls. Why did he bring Pietersen before Wright? And only one over for Wright even though he got a wicket? Perhaps at the end of 40th over, he looked around and thought, "who else bowls in our team, who, who does, oh yeah, Wright does!" I remember that this wasn't his 1st match as England captain, he captained against SA in a Twenty20 too but the difference was that Anderson was probably the bowling captain. When Anderson changed Cook's fielding position, a commentator said, "This is the first time I've someone telling a captain where to field." I guess they can work together but that's not gonna happen in this series. Cook's ability to bat with a good strike rate have always been doubted but he hasn't really disappointed in ODIs. Sunday was no different, he scored 64 off 68. In the 2nd warm-up game, he scored 52 off 50 and hit a six too! Yeah, the opposition is Bangladesh but he has done well against good International teams, Counties too. I think, among the minnows, European teams like Ireland, Scotland bowl well while Asian teams bat well.