England beat Pakistan by 93 runs
KOLKATA — It’s okay. Breathe. You can climb up from behind the sofa now and take your hands away from your eyes. England’s horror World Cup is finally over.
They did finish in style, comfortably dispatching Pakistan in this dead rubber in Kolkata in front of 37,661 fans.
But despite Mick Jagger being in town for the cricket, England’s players can take no satisfaction from a win that means very little.
England have, mercifully, now secured a place in the 2025 Champions Trophy. But the dream of defending their title and becoming the first team to do so since the great Australian sides at the turn of the century died many weeks ago.
You can’t always get what you want but we all expected better than this. This weekend in India marks the start of Diwali – the festival of light. However, during a campaign that included six defeats in their first seven matches, there has only really been darkness for England.
This was different – light at the end of the tunnel if you will.
England’s total of 337 for 9 left Pakistan needing to knock off the target in 6.4 overs to overhaul New Zealand in the table and qualify for the semi-finals. You didn’t need to be Carol Vorderman to work out the numbers in that particular equation didn’t add up.
Match in 30 seconds
England signed off a shambolic World Cup in style, thrashing Pakistan by 93 runs at Eden Gardens.
It leaves Jos Buttler’s men with three wins from nine group matches and secures qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
But it can’t gloss over a first-round exit in a campaign that has mainly been painful to watch. After winning the toss for a seventh successive game, England batted first and started well, with Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow putting on 82 for the first wicket. Bairstow, Joe Root and Ben Stokes all got half-centuries as England reached the 40-over mark on 240 for two. Yet they lost seven for 97 in the last 10, including five for 35 in the final 4.3 overs. Still, their target proved more than enough.
The retiring David Willey removed Abdullah Shafique and Fakhar Zaman inside the first three overs of the chase, before Gus Atkinson got the key wicket of captain Babar Azam. By the time Moeen Ali bowled Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan were 100 for four in the 23rd over and this match was effectively over.
This is the end of a great era for English white-ball cricket and this match will surely be the final act for most of the 11 players over 30 in this squad in terms of their one-day careers.
As Moeen Ali admitted last weekend, all good things come to an end. And despite the fact many of these players will be reluctant to retire from this format, the announcement on Sunday morning of the squads for next month’s ODI and T20 series in the West Indies will give a good indication of where many of their futures lie.
Even the name of this ground – Eden Gardens – sounds like a retirement home. In fact, a quick google search tells that there are many named just that around the world.
The majority of this squad are now set to be pensioned off in 50-over cricket. Yet Jagger, who is staying at England’s hotel in Kolkata and still going strong with the Rolling Stones at the age of 80, is probably the last person who can offer advice about when it’s the right time to retire.
It was apt that many of England’s white-ball greats gave a rendition of some of their greatest hits during a batting display that felt like a blast from the past.
Just like the epic 2019 World Cup Final against New Zealand, Ben Stokes gave us another innings of 84, this one coming in just 76 balls. Joe Root was rather more pedestrian in reaching 60 from 72 balls but his third half-century of this campaign saw him draw level with Graham Gooch for the most by an Englishman at World Cups, this latest knock his ninth in three tournaments.
Jonny Bairstow, another for whom this was surely an ODI encore, produced his highest score of a below-par campaign, with 59 in 61 balls.
There were also flashes of brilliance from Jos Buttler during his 27 in 18 deliveries. It was his highest score since hitting 43 in the opening match of a desperate tournament for England’s captain.
In this innings there was also a flashback to that 2019 final when he looked to have been caught on the boundary on six before Shadab Khan stepped on the rope – just as Trent Boult did four years ago to give Stokes a life at Lord’s.
Yet it wouldn’t be England at this tournament if everything went smoothly, with a collapse of 5 for 35 in 4.3 overs at the end of the innings.
It means England have lost 85 of a possible 89 wickets in this tournament, narrowly behind the most lost by any team at a single World Cup – Afghanistan’s 87 in 2019.
But there was another parting shot from David Willey, a bowler we know is definitely going after he announced his international retirement last week, taking two wickets inside the first three overs to put Pakistan under pressure right from the start of the chase.
Willey signed off by taking his 100th ODI wicket late in the day as Pakistan slipped to 186 for 8.
There was even time for Chris Woakes to break Ian Botham’s record for the most by an Englishman in Cricket World Cups, wrapping up this win with his 31st overall.
It ensured the perfect ending for an England team who deserve to go down in history as one of the greatest we’ve ever had the pleasure to watch.
Quote of the day
“If England had got their batters in this kind of form earlier it might have been a different story at this World Cup.”
The BBC’s Jonathan Agnew on Test Match Special
Play of the day
The audacious ramp shot over fine leg from Harry Brook off Haris Rauf that brought up England’s 300 in the 47th over. How was this guy left out for three games in this tournament?
Player of the day: Ben Stokes
If this is to be his last ODI then it was apt he went out with a bang – scoring a thunderous 84 from 76 balls. It was the same score he made in the 2019 World Cup Final but this low-key dead rubber was a world apart from that glorious day at Lord’s.
Stat of the day
Amazingly this match was the first at this World Cup in which Jos Buttler batted in the final 10 overs. If you’re looking for reasons why England failed, this is one of them.
England old guard not sure what comes next as Buttler suggests reset will not be ‘drastic’
Coach Matthew Mott on whether he has been given reassurances about his future: “I haven’t. I haven’t even spoken about it.”
And Mott on whether he thinks he will keep his job: “Absolutely, I do. We’ve had a poor tournament but we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”
Ben Stokes on his ODI future: “The reason I stepped away was through workload. I’m Test captain and there’s a lot I want to do with that team. It’s something I’ll have to think about quite hard.”
Captain Jos Buttler suggests the ODI rebuild won’t be as radical as we might think: “It’s not going to be a drastic change of playing style, like 2015. We know where we need to go. That doesn’t mean a huge clearout, it’s just pushing on from here.”
