England left to absorb shocking defeat
07 June 2009
There have been some stunning results by England's opponents on the hallowed turf of Lord's over the past century and a bit.
But this one, in the ICC World Twenty20 opener, by the Netherlands in their dayglo orange kit, and on a bleak, showery night, knocks spots off all the others.
And doesn't it just seem ever-so-slightly farcical now that England had begun to feel quietly confident about winning back the Ashes later this summer?
Whatever happens now, they will probably recover in time to prepare properly for that series. But it was a strange evening all round in NW8, and it wasn't just those scarily efficient floodlights - that made England look even whiter with mounting panic through the agonising climax - that were to blame.
Through the sort of general chaos that bad weather lends to cricketing occasions, the opening ceremony - such as it ever would have been - was reduced to two cursory speeches. One was by ICC president David Morgan and the other by the Duke of Kent - neither the sort of celebrity figure the younger fans in the family stands might have wanted to see.
But this one, in the ICC World Twenty20 opener, by the Netherlands in their dayglo orange kit, and on a bleak, showery night, knocks spots off all the others.
And doesn't it just seem ever-so-slightly farcical now that England had begun to feel quietly confident about winning back the Ashes later this summer?
Whatever happens now, they will probably recover in time to prepare properly for that series. But it was a strange evening all round in NW8, and it wasn't just those scarily efficient floodlights - that made England look even whiter with mounting panic through the agonising climax - that were to blame.
Through the sort of general chaos that bad weather lends to cricketing occasions, the opening ceremony - such as it ever would have been - was reduced to two cursory speeches. One was by ICC president David Morgan and the other by the Duke of Kent - neither the sort of celebrity figure the younger fans in the family stands might have wanted to see.
source:bbc.co/sports
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