England’s cricketers set standard for World Cup
For England fans, one down, one to go. For England’s cricketers, they’ve achieved exactly what they wanted, and in some style.
England have won the ICC World Twenty20 in Barbados, with a resounding seven-wicket win against old enemy Australia this evening. Paul Collingwood’s men showed passion, pride, resilience and belief to win their first ever ICC limited overs title, and have shown Rooney and co how to do it in South Africa this summer.
England entered the tournament in the Carribean as Dark Horses, with the likes of Australia, West Indies, India, Sri Lanka and reigning champions Pakistan all favoured against this young England side. There’s a great blend of confidence and belief in the players. Arguably, these two combined created the pride to pull on the England shirt and the passion to bring back England’s first trophy.
Paul Collingwood hit the winning runs, and he deserved it. The Durham man showed great leadership skills in this Twenty20, going some way to banish the memories of 2008 when Collingwood was suspended from limited overs cricket and replaced as England captain for completing overs outside of the time limit, and drawing criticism of gamesmanship. Collingwood and coach Andy Flower have helped the young members of the side settle in, and inspired confidence in them to not be overawed by the occasion.
22-year-old Craig Kieswetter formed an encouraging opening partnership with older but new England batsman Michael Lumb. Kieswetter’s 63 in the final was remarkably composed given the occasion. Eoin Morgan was fantastic with the bat, Luke Wright and Tim Bresnan paid great supporting roles, as did Michael Yardy. Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom and Graeme Swann were prominent in the attack. Then there was Kevin Pietersen.
Pietersen has been struggling to find form for some time coming into the tournament ever since his injury in last summer’s Ashes. There were glimpses of his best form in the IPL, but he saved his best for the World Twenty2o. Consistently good scores, three 50′s, and a solid 47 in the final, showed a new father inspired. Pietersen had to fly home for the birth of his first child, and on his return all it seemed to show was a fire to perform even better. Perhaps putting cricket and life into perspective, Pietersen relaxed into his role for England.
Bragging rights are England’s over Australia, having reclaimed the Ashes last summer, they’ve now dented Australian pride even further by taking the title over their long time rivals. Australia play England in a One Day Series this summer, and rest assured they’ll be looking for revenge. Come the Ashes this winter, the Aussies will be out to prove a point.
England’s footballers will now attempt to take the same attitude the cricket side have shown to win the World Cup in South Africa. Fabio Capello has got his side playing good football, egos have been knocked down, and finally they look like a team. At the same time, both the cricket and football sides look to have finally gelled as teams, working with each other for the same goal, rather than individuals leading the way. Sure, Wayne Rooney and Kevin Pietersen are important players, but they both see themselves as members of a team, not THE team.
It serves as a good omen, England will fly to their training camp in Austria this week to prepare for the big event in South Africa and they’ll take heart from their cricketing counterpart’s success. How can England’s footballers match this triumph? Knocking out old rivals Germany on their way to World Cup Glory…
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