Cricket World Cup 2023 | Free fall from zenith to nadir: what went wrong for England? Premium

England's World Cup dream ended in shock: from title contenders to bottom of the table. A Hercule Poirot-level mystery as to why, with stars like Buttler, Stokes, Roy, Bairstow, Ali, Curran, Woakes & Wood. Poor preparation, wrong decisions, lack of ODI experience & distractions all played a part.

How England managed to reach the bottom of the World Cup’s points table is a mystery that may take a Hercule Poirot to solve. The English tragedy is as much the story of the World Cup as the way the underdogs The Netherlands and Afghanistan have fared against much stronger rivals.

When England arrived in India for the World Cup a little over a month ago, it had every right to believe that it could defend the title it won at home four years ago. Lest we forget, England also holds the T20 World Cup.

It was widely expected that Jos Buttler’s men would reach the semifinals, at least. There wasn’t much criticism about the selection, either.

Jason Roy was unlucky to have missed out after being named in the provisional squad; the opener was one of the stars of the triumph in 2019. But, not many could find fault with his replacement: Harry Brook, the most exciting batter to emerge from England for years.

The 2019 World Cup hero Ben Stokes had come out of retirement to have another go, and his 182 off just 124 balls — breaking Roy’s record for the highest individual ODI score for England — at the Oval against New Zealand justified Buttler’s conversations with him on a possible return. Given also the fact that several players, like Buttler, Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood, were familiar with the Indian conditions, thanks to the IPL, the Englishmen must have landed in Ahmedabad for the World Cup’s opening fixture in high spirits.

They were in for a shock, though.

They were thrashed by New Zealand by nine wickets with nearly 14 overs to spare. It was the sweetest of revenges.