This year’s cricket world cup is being hosted by India. It has been action packed and exciting, but England are struggling to win their matches…

 

England’s matches:

 

The 1st match of the season was between England and New Zealand on the 5th of October. England batted first and scored 282 runs for 9 wickets, which is difficult to defend. While trying to defend their score they only managed to take 1 wicket and New Zealand won with 82 balls remaining.

 

On 10th of October, England beat Bangladesh, resulting in their only win this season so far. England hit an impressive 364 runs. They then proceeded to bowl and field greatly, allowing Bangladesh to get only 227 runs, all out. England secured a convincing victory by 137 runs.

 

England then faced Afghanistan on the 15th of October. England bowled well, and Afghanistan only managed to get 284 runs. In a shocking turn of events, England’s batting order crumbled in the chase, and they only got 215 runs, all out. This was an absolutely massive victory for Afghanistan’s cricket team.

 

On the 21st of October, England faced South Africa. South Africa batted amazingly, even though they lost 7 wickets. England took the wickets very late, allowing the South African batsmen to hit many runs before getting out. They got 399 runs! England failed to chase this down, only getting 170 runs, all out.

 

6 days later, on the 26th of October, England played against Sri Lanka. England batted first but got all out with 156 runs in 33.2 overs. This was a very low score and Sri Lanka quickly caught up in 25.4 overs.

 

After that match, the team had to accept that they were not going to qualify for the semi-finals this year. Though, in an attempt to keep the optimism up, Matthew Mott, the coach of the English cricket team, stated that they would “have to use [their losses] in a positive way”* as “something good has to come out of it.”*

 

Jos Butler, the captain of the English cricket team, said that they would need a “few miracles”* to help them win their upcoming matches. Sadly, this wish was not fulfilled…

 

England then faced India on the 29th of October for the 29th match of the season. England started off by bowling and did a fantastic job, letting India only get 229 runs for 9 wickets! Many firmly believed that England would finally be blessed with a victory, but India showed off outstanding bowling and fielding, getting the whole English team out in 34.5 overs. England lost by 100 runs.

 

As we can see, England have lost 5 of their 6 matches so far this season. Many have come to accept that their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals this season are slim.

 

* These quotes were taken from https://www.reuters.com/sports/cricket/its-over-england-coach-mott-throws-towel-world-cup-hopes-2023-10-26/