HISTORY
The England Cricket team is one of the best leading cricket teams in the world. England is the home of cricket, and it was the nation that introduced the sport to the world. England’s cricket team represents England and Wales, and it is controlled by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). This team played their first ODI in 1971 against Australia and got the test status in 1877 along with Australia. Furthermore, got the ICC membership in 1909 along with Australia. Australia and England were at the time the two leading cricket playing nations in the world and England played many cricket matches with them. England’s cricket team holds the position of 6th in Test and ODI in ICC rank listing. They played their first Twenty20 match on 2005. England’s cricket team gained many achievements in cricket. They have won 307 of the 885 Test matches they have played and have also finished runners-up in 1979, 1987 and 1992 Cricket World Cups. In the 1975 World Cup held in England itself, the hosts did reasonably well to reach the semifinals where they were defeated by their arch rivals Australia. In the 1979 world cup also held in England, and they had a runner up in that World Cup. In the 1987 world cup, they performed very well to reach the finals, and they lost by just 7 runs to Australia. In 1992 World Cup, they finished runners up for the third time. In the 1996 World Cup, England lost to Sri Lanka in the quarter finals. However, in the 1999,2003 World Cup, this team was failed in the first round. It is the wonderful news that England has never won the World Cup. This team produced many star players including Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Tony Greig, Graham Gooch, Allan Lamb, Nasser Hussain etc. Current squad of this team also contains many powerful players such as Michael Vaughn, Kevin Pietersen, Steve Harmison, Andrew Strauss, Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad etc.
ENGLAND IN ICC 20-20 WORLD CUP
In the 2007 ICC world cup, England’s team was in the Group ‘C’ along with Zimbabwe and Australia. In this World cup, they began well with 50-run victory over Zimbabwe with the help of Kevin Petersen’s 79 runs from 37 balls. However, they were defeated by Australia in another group match. The victory over Zimbabwe had been enough to secure qualification to the Super Eights but there were to be no further victories. First South Africa beat them by 19 runs and New Zealand defeated them by 5 runs. So they did not qualify for the semi final, and they were out from that World Cup. The second 20-20 World cup will be held on June in England. The England team is a great part of the 12 competing teams promoted by the ICC 20-20 World Cup. In the second 20-20 World cup, England’s team is in Group ‘B’ along with Pakistan and Netherlands. Paul Colling wood is the current captain and Andy Flower is the current coach of this team. The England squad for this World Cup is in the following,
Squad : Paul Collingwood (Captain), Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Andrew Flintoff, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Eoin Morgan, James Foster (Wicketkeeper), Robert Key, Graham Napier, Luke Wright, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann.
UPDATES
England, the hosts, defeated by 4 wickets in the opening match against Netherlands in 2009 Twenty 20 World cup. England took 162 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. England starts amazingly in this match. The England team opener Luke Wright top scored with 71 while his partner Ravi Bopara hit 46. Together they put on 102 runs opening partnership. The match started after a half an hour delay with Netherlands winning the toss and electing to the field. England’s 50 came off 39 deliveries with seven fours. Bopara picked the gaps beautifully. Even so, the luck was on Netherlands side.
England has won the crucial match against Pakistan by 48 runs in T20 World cup. Pakistan won the toss and elected to a field first. England has set a huge score 185 for the loss of 5 wickets. However, Pakistan managed to score only 137 runs in 20 overs. Kevin Pietersen and Luke Wright played beautifully for the country to lead to the win. Luke Wright was elected as Man of the match. He took 34 runs from 16 balls. Kevin Pietersen scores 58 runs. England entered into the super 8 stage of the T20 World cup.
England defeated by South Africa in the super eight match of T20 World cup. They won the toss and elected to bat first. They took 111 runs. They were all out in 19.5 overs. South African teams reach the target in 18.2 overs. England crashed to 3-25 by the sixth over in an inspired display by the South Africans in the field. Openers Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright were dismissed by the second over. Kevin Pietersen, who made 19 runs and Owais Shah made 38 runs for the country.
In the 20th match of T20 world cup England beat India by 3 runs. India won the toss and elected to a field first. England took 153 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs. Indian teams managed to score 150 for 5 wickets in 20 overs. Kevin Pietersen top scored for England with 46 off 27 balls, with three fours and a six, after sharing a second-wicket partnership of 71 with opener Ravi Bopara (37). Ryan Sidebottom (2/31) was selected as the man of the match.
England’s team defeated by West Indies in the super eight match of T20 World cup. They won the toss and elected to bat first. They score 161 runs for 6 wickets in 20 over and due to rain on West Indies team could not complete their batting. So by Duckworth/Lewis’s law West Indies declared as the winners. Ravi Bopara took 55 runs from 47 balls for the country. By this defeat the hosts, England team out from the tournament.
