7 games. 3 tight wins (including one against South Africa). 3 defeats (including two to Ireland and Bangladesh). 1 tie (against India, chasing 338).
Suffice to say that they eventually had to run out of whatever they were smoking.
Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand may still have dreams of lifting the World Cup, but the most exciting team of the competition was definitely the English team. Despite surmounting injuries, withdrawals and implosions, they scraped through to the quarterfinals, where they eventually ran out of steam. While Strauss and Flower look ahead to ways they can turn things around in the shorter format of the game, I would just like to look back and thank them for the memories of:
....a sign of things to come, in the game against the Dutch
...arguably the most thrilling match in World Cup history
...being at the receiving end of the most sensational upset in World Cup history
...a fight-to-the-death encounter against the South Africans
...giving Bangladesh cruel hopes of making it to the knockouts
...a come from behind win against the original Collapso-masters
…and thats about it. I have blocked the quarterfinal game from my memory.
So, thank you England, for making this the most exciting World Cup in a long while, and also for making the case for inclusion of Associate teams in future World Cups. Cheers!
That was utterly disappointing...anyway, when is the next Ashes??
Like a Tracer Bullet 
You’ll miss us now we’re gone. People will just have to muddle through with the India v Pakistan snoozefest.
Ha ha….I’m sure people will miss the English…but in no way will the Mohali game be a snoozefest…you can bet on that!
Man, what an absolute whipping. And a complete waste of FL points if you had Sanga (c), Mahela and Kulasekara.
I feel your pain, somewhat..had Jayawardene as my captain…but Tharanga made up for it in some way..
“That was utterly disappointing…anyway, when is the next Ashes??”
hahaha … the old England line: at least we have the Ashes.
Until you don’t 🙂
Looks like you guys and the Poms have a lot of opportunities over the next few years to keep exchanging the Ashes back and forth…15 Tests in 2 years?!
That’s a great point Tracer, we have probably helped the Associate Nations cause no end.
Although you could argue that we proved that it is only worth having two Associates, when you look at Canada and Kenya in the other group.
You would have to imagine that the current Ireland and Holland teams would qualify for the two spaces fairly comfortably, so if they maintain that level and ICC do reduce it to 2 places then at least they should be ok.
As for entertainment, it ironic that we lost in a game just as one sided as the West Indies one. I’m trying to decide who’s was the more one sided.
I’ve been saying that all along…instead of doing away with all the associates, pick the best three and add them to the 9 test playing nations…this way, we would have quality associates like Ireland, Netherlands and perhaps even Afghanistan or Canada who can provide good competition…
As for the one sided quarter final, there is no contest….West Indies were far worse…122 runs compared to England’s 221….