Ben Stokes arrived in India hoping to boost England’s title defence, but ended up playing the shot that defined their fall from grace.
With Jos Buttler‘s team 30 for two in pursuit of the 230 they needed to stun the hosts and maintain an interest in the World Cup, Stokes flailed around for nine balls, then missed an ugly hack at Mohammed Shami.
As a partisan crowd of around 50,000 went berserk, England’s talisman sheepishly trudged off. He had just played possibly the worst stroke of the tournament – a tired act of surrender that spoke of a demoralised team. He barely knew where to look.
This was not so much a sporting performance as a definition of madness, as England repeated familiar mistakes while somehow expecting a different outcome.
Well, guess what? They lost. Again, this time by 100 runs after being dismissed for 129 – their lowest total so far.
Ben Stokes made a critical error when he was bowled out in England’s heavy defeat to India
India had chased in each of their five games, and won despite an eventual total of 229 for nine
England’s fifth defeat marked their worst World Cup ever, and there’s still three games left
Since making 364 for nine against Bangladesh, they have been dismissed for 215 by Afghanistan, 170 by South Africa, 156 by Sri Lanka and now 129 by India. The direction of travel is painfully clear.
Astonishingly, England are not yet out, though their departure is only a matter of time, and Australia would love to apply the coup de grace in Ahmedabad on Saturday. It’s hard to see another outcome.
England’s latest misadventure with the bat condemned them to their fifth defeat, making this their worst World Cup. And there are three games still to come.
To add to the schadenfreude others have felt at their demise, it emerged on Sunday that those games will be about more than playing for pride, with the ICC belatedly pointing out the eight spots for the 2025 Champions Trophy will be determined by the group placings here.
Hosts Pakistan are guaranteed qualification, leaving seven other spots up for grabs.
England, who are propping up the 10-team table, will need to beat at least two of Australia, the Netherlands and Pakistan to avoid the humiliation of missing out.
The ICC messed up by failing to clarify the regulations at the start of the tournament, which would have lent context to some of the later dead matches. A claim on their website, that qualification would be determined by rankings nearer the time, was said to be ‘out of date’.
Equally, it stretched credulity to learn England had no idea a place in the bottom two would cost them anything other than their title, with coach Matthew Mott admitting after the game that the news had been relayed to him only an hour and a half earlier.
Then again, perhaps nothing was stretched at all: their haplessness keeps plumbing new depths.
Joe Root scored two early World Cup half-centuries, but just 16 runs in the last four innings
Liam Livingstone’s 27 was England’s top score, as they crawled past 100, but not much further
Predictably, England bottled the chance to give their three 20-somethings a go, leaving Harry Brook, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse on the sidelines, and sticking with the side who were embarrassed by Sri Lanka in Bangalore.
The bowlers, in fairness, had their best game yet, with Chris Woakes finally finding rhythm, and David Willey working over Virat Kohli so skilfully that he ended up slogging to mid-off for a nine-ball duck.
Adil Rashid claimed the big scalp of Rohit Sharma, superbly caught for 87 at deep midwicket by Liam Livingstone, and Moeen Ali bowled tidily, too.
India had chased in each of their first five games, and their total of 229 for nine did not quell fears among their supporters that they are a less ferocious proposition batting first.
At 30 without loss in the fifth over, England had made a decent start, as they did against Sri Lanka.
But in the time it took to say the ground’s full name – the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium – India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah had bowled Dawid Malan off the edge, and trapped Joe Root first ball with a full-length delivery that defeated his attempted work to leg. Root asked for a review, then gesticulated angrily with his bat after third umpire Ahsan Raza decided that a small tremor on Snicko was something other than leather on willow – possibly boot on turf.
Since starting with a couple of lively half-centuries against New Zealand and Bangladesh, Root has now scored 16 runs in four innings from 34 balls, mirroring England’s decline.
With the run-rate not an issue, and the dew likely to favour the batting side, Stokes might have given himself a look at the bowling. Instead, he was all over the place.
Three innings here have brought him 48 runs from 91 balls, and none of the expected menace.
Jonny Bairstow was bowled by Shami for 14 via inside edge and pad, before Buttler’s nightmare tournament continued when he was flummoxed by left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav for 10.
England’s captain started the tournament with a forthright 43 against New Zealand, since when he has made 62 runs in five innings without passing 20. And when Moeen drove limply at Shami and edged behind for 15, England were 81 for six.
Woakes was stumped off Yadav, and Rashid bowled by the irresistible Shami.
Livingstone’s 27 was the top score, and it felt like a small mercy when they crawled past 100, though not much further. England, soon to be ex-world champions, are now living on scraps.
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