England Cricket team has faced a lot of unforgettable upsets in the ICC events, even though the nation won the 50-over World Cup once in 2019 with the match-winning knock of Ben Stokes. In the T20 World Cup England cricket team claimed the title twice in 2010 and 2022 recently with the team led by the captain Jos Buttler.
Unforgettable upsets of England Cricket Team
1. Lost to India in the 1983 World Cup semi-final
England was a very strong team of some of the great English cricketers at that time who even reached the finals of the previous World Cup held before 1983. In the 1983 World Cup, no one expected India to reach till the semi-final, even the Indian team players were themselves in shock after reaching so far in the tournament.
England had a good chance of qualifying for the finals but unfortunately, the Indian seamers were good enough to stop England at 213 where Kapil Dev took 3 wickets, Roger Binny and Mohinder Amarnath took 2 wickets each along with Kirti Azad who took 1 wicket.
The English seamers Ian Botham and Bob Wills could not hold back Indian batsman and India won the match at an expense of just 4 wickets. Mohinder Amarnath was the player of the match of the semi-final upset of England.
2. Lost to Zimbabwe in the 1992 World Cup group stage
Zimbabwe was considered one of the weakest teams of the tournament whereas England had an impressive batting line up which included batsmen like Graham Gooch and Ian Botham in the top order with Allan Lamb, Graeme Hick, Robin Smith, and Alec Stewart in the middle against the weakest team of the tournament.
England’s bowling side performed well and stopped Zimbabwe at 134 and England got a small target to chase. That’s when the unusual upsets for the English team happened, it was the bowlers’ pitch with the ball seaming well and getting an added advantage of the overcast conditions. Zimbabwe bowled out the entire England cricket team on 125 with Graham Gooch and Hick going out for a duck.
3. Lost to the Netherlands in the 2009 World Cup group stage
In the 2009 T20 World Cup, big teams had a chance to eliminate the weaker teams by the preliminary stage itself so that they can focus on the bigger matches of the tournament. Unfortunately, England faced a huge upset in the group stage by losing to the weaker team in the tournament Netherlands.
The England bowlers Stuart Broad and Adil Rashid leaked a lot of runs which led the Netherlands to chase a satisfactory target of 163 runs against the stronger team as compared to them. Later England has to defeat Pakistan for qualifying in the further rounds.
4. Lost to the Ireland in the 2011 World Cup group stage
The most memorable matches of the World Cup till now. England set up a huge target of 327 runs against Ireland which seemed one-sided to the viewers and it did till Ireland lost half of its batsmen by 111 runs when Kevin O’Brien played one of the fastest knocks of World Cup history and registered the fastest century of the World Cup.
Kevin scored 113 off 63 balls with the lower order batsmen who played freely with him and helped him achieve this impossible task within 50 overs to claim victory against the strong team of the tournament making it an unforgettable upsets for the England Cricket Team.
5. Lost to the Netherlands in the 2014 T20 World Cup Group Stage
After losing to the Netherlands in 2009, England won the World Cup title in 2010 but ended up being at the same place in 2014 where they were earlier. Despite a strong batting lineup which included batsmen like Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales, and Moeen Ali.
England failed to chase down a modest target of 134 and got bowled out at 88, raising questions about their attitude and approach. The defeat sparked criticism of both the players and the management.
6. Lost to Bangladesh in the 2015 World Cup Group Stage
England faced a crucial ODI match against Bangladesh in 2015, a much-needed win to advance in the tournament. Despite being favored, England’s top order struggled to chase down Bangladesh’s total of 267 runs.
The top order failed to score many runs on the pitch and a late surge from Jos Buttler of 65 fell short by 15 runs, England was eliminated with the burden of giant upsets, while Bangladesh progressed to the quarter-finals.
7. Lost to Sri Lanka in the 2019 World Cup group stage
England was the dominant side with a batting lineup of hard hitters present in the team who were already raging in the tournament. Sri Lanka on the other side was a vulnerable side whose captain did not even play ODI for four years but the greatest upsets were bound to happen for the English cricketers that too where they had their core strength. england ‘s batsmen fell short of 20 runs while chasing a mere 233 runs against Sri Lanka.
8. Lost to Afghanistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup group stage
Afghanistan’s victory over England in the 2023 World Cup was a historic moment along with the greatest upsets for England. Afghanistan’s previous win in the tournament came in 2015 against Scotland. In Delhi, they defeated the reigning champions with a dominant performance.
Afghanistan’s openers set a strong foundation where they did not lose any wickets till 117 runs, scored a total of 285 runs and their spinners bowled exceptionally well to restrict England’s chase. With a comfortable 69-run win, Afghanistan secured their place in the tournament.
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