[Lord Snooty]

124-5

No chance!

[themaclad]

Not winning this

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Better than us in all departments

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Consider the panic button pressed.

[themaclad]

Pakistan on the verge of beating New Zealand which puts intense pressure on Morgan's boys they have to play Afghanistan and next Friday a day nighter against Bangladesh.
England cannot afford to lose another match

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Week Four Roundup

Well, what a difference a week makes. Last Thursday morning, God was in his heaven and New Zealand, Australia, India and England were practically in the semi-finals, but seven days on, only the Aussies have rubber-stamped their spot in the last four. The Kiwis have wobbled and the hosts have imploded, and all of a sudden the likes of Bangladesh, Pakistan or even Sri Lanka could well get across the line. It's no more than a pipe-dream now for the West Indies, whose entire tournament would have changed if Carlos Brathwaite's last-gasp attempt at a six had crossed the rope in one of the weekend's three proper crackers. Elsewhere, South Africa continue to lurch from one crisis to another, and despite fighting heroically in Saturday's other last-over thriller, Afghanistan just couldn't quite take the scalp that would have been the biggest in their history.

Individually, the Aussies are now bossing the race to top both Tendulkar and McGrath.

Leading Run-scorers

1. David Warner (AUS) - 500
2. Aaron Finch (AUS) - 496
3. Shakib Al Hasan (BAN) - 476
4. Joe Root (ENG) - 432
5. Kane Williamson (NZ) - 414


Leading Wicket-takers

1. Mitchell Starc (AUS) - 19
2. Mohammad Aamer (PAK) - 16 [for 286]
3. Jofra Archer (ENG) - 16 [for 325]
4. Lockie Ferguson (NZ) - 15
5. Mark Wood (ENG) - 13

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Never fear: Jonny "The Diplomat" Bairstow has now concluded that England losing games is all the supporters' fault.

"People were waiting for us to fail. They are not willing us on to win, in many ways they are waiting for you to get that loss, so they can jump on your throat. It's a typical English thing to do, in every sport."

Michael Vaughan has taken him to pieces, and rightly so.

[Lord Snooty]

By "people" he obviously means the gutter press and the likes of Sky Sports, who are always looking to put a downer on things.
Look how everyone is building up the Lionesses now. Once they lose, journos will be at their throats.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

If that's the case, then he's really got to choose his words more carefully, because it's not at all unreasonable to infer "the general public" from "people". I understand not wanting to name specific media outlets, but seriously, there are better ways of phrasing it.

Even then, while there's *some* truth to that premise, it doesn't tell the whole story. I don't recall Southgate's England being treated as anything but heroes after last year's World Cup exit, and I'm sure the Lionesses will be the same. When it comes to successful teams, the gutter press's build-em-up-and-knock-em-down attitude tends to be focused on individuals (like Raheem Sterling) than the team as a whole. Scummy, yes, but not the same kettle of fish.

England are being criticised for losing three group matches - two of them eminently avoidable - and putting themselves on the verge of elimination. We can argue about the degree of criticism warranted, but they don't deserve a pat on the head.

[Lord Snooty]

So with Pakistan only Bangladesh still to play,  we definitely need to win both remaining matches. How did it get to this?

[Lord Snooty]

337-7 for England v India. Much better. Off to a cracking start with Roy and Bairstow and yet another top knock from the boy Stokes.
Classy last over bowled by Bumrah, 3 runs and a wicket. Should be enough to win, but England's capacity for cock up holds no bounds, so don't think this is going to be straight forward.

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Win the toss and bat first. Set an imposing target. Don't understand why we sometimes put the opposition in.