Cricket World Cup: do England deserve to progress?

On an incredibly balmy night here in Scotland, with the sea blue and flat and dolphins frolicking in the bay, I could almost be in Barbados for the England v Bangladesh match.

Except, I followed the first innings with gradually deepening despair whilst the fans at the Kensington Oval seemed to think that England were doing quite nicely. At one point, we had taken 6 wickets for only 66 or so runs, and it looked under control. Of course, that couldn’t continue, and 80 or so for the final 4 wickets meant that Bangladesh would have something to bowl at.

And they certainly had a good start. Bell gone for a duck. Strauss out for a pitiful 23, and in the 21st over, Vaughan made a hash of it and was caught off a mis-timed sweep. In the 23rd over, Pietersen was  equally inept and went for 10 – not at all what the doctor ordered. Yet again, it all came down to Collingwood – the totally undersung hero of the England side for many a month now.  But, knowing how precarious their position was, they seemed to forget about the run-rate, and allowed Bangladesh to pin them down to singles and twos in the middle overs, when they should have been aware of the mathematics, and put on a surge. Flintoff did manage a few boundaries, but it was stifled stuff. At one  point he had only 10 runs off 33 balls. With Collingwood on 12 off 34, this is not stuff to excite or suggest that England can do anything against South Africa. When Flintoff was bowled for 23, it just cemented my belief that England are holed beneath the water, and will not progress despite the win tonight. [mimitig]