England, who were expected to defend their title thanks to the white-ball revolution observed by the team, are on the verge of being eliminated.
Prior to the start of the World Cup, two sides were consistently predicted by senior cricketers and experts. However, the two finally took opposing courses. India, which was expected to repeat their 2011 feat as simply hosts, has already emerged as a near-certainty for the knockout stages based on their preparations for the World Cup. On the other side, England, who were expected to defend their championship because to the team’s white-ball revolution, are on the verge of being eliminated.
The 2019 champions are in the bottom half of the table after losing three of their first four matches. England was defeated by New Zealand in the tournament opener, an avenging triumph for the Blackcaps in a rematch of the 2019 final. England rebounded to win Bangladesh in their second game, but were rocked by Afghanistan’s 69-run setback, before South Africa added to their humiliation with a record 229-run loss, the team’s largest in ODI cricket. England’s campaign is now in jeopardy as a result of the defeat, but there is still time to turn things around.
England has five more games to play, and a string of victories might give them a decent chance of making the World Cup knockout stage. If they win all five of their remaining tournament matches, they will have a maximum of 12 points, which will not guarantee them a semifinal berth but will certainly keep them hopeful. England’s destiny thus hinges not just on the results of their remaining league games, but also on how the other nine teams do.
England would also be wise to consider net run rate when gaining victory in the remaining matches, since it is known to play a significant impact in the closing phases of the league phase. England’s current NRR of -1.247 is only better than Bangladesh (-1.253) and the Netherlands (-1.902), both of which have the same points as Jos Buttler’s team, albeit from five matches.
What are England’s chances of turning their World Cup 2023 campaign around?
The previous time England exited a group stage match was in 2015, when they ended fifth after being upset by Bangladesh, after which they went soul searching before rising from the ashes to win the championship in 2019.
In the three previous World Cups where India was at least one of the hosts, England advanced past the league/group stage on all three occasions. In 1987, they were semifinalists, and in 1996 and 2011, they were quarterfinalists.
