On this day in 2014: England humiliated by Netherlands in desperate Twenty20 defeat
On this day six years ago, England were beaten in ego-bruising fashion by a Netherlands side considered as also-rans at the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.
Stuart Broad’s England side already knew they were on their way home, having failed to qualify for the knockout stages after defeats to New Zealand and South Africa. There was, however, one more fixture to fulfil in Chittagong.
The Netherlands had been blown away for 39 all out by Sri Lanka, but they did give South Africa a scare along the way. England coach Ashley Giles presciently drew attention to the possibility of an upset on the eve of the game, noting: “It does represent a banana skin, but it’s a World Cup game, we’re playing for England and we need to win the match.”
England made just one change to their XI, bringing in spinner Stephen Parry for misfiring seamer Jade Dernbach, and the bowlers largely kept their part of the bargain. Having won the toss they restricted their opponents to a modest 133 for five – well below the par score for the tournament.
Broad claimed three for 24 and Ravi Bopara gave up a miserly 15 runs from his four-over allocation. At the changeover, the batsmen would have been more than happy with the task ahead.
England had lost to the Dutch in the competition before, a comedy of errors at Lord’s in 2009, but at least that was a last-ball finish.
Here, they were humbled in a hurry, dismissed for a paltry 88 to lose by a mammoth 45 runs. Unbelievably, they scored just four boundaries in 17.4 overs of muddled, error-strewn batting.
Mudassar Bukhari and Logan Van Beek had the time of their lives, sharing six wickets for just 21 runs. Only three players made double figures, with Bopara’s 18 the best of the innings.
Invited to explain what had occurred, captain and coach were united in admitting the team had committed the cardinal sin of losing focus.
“How do I explain that? Only with a couple of words. Complacency would be one of them,” said Giles. “I’m not sure there’s anything more we can say other than it was unacceptable and embarrassing.”
Broad concurred. ”No one seemed to have any hunger to go and get any runs and there was obviously some soft dismissals,” he said. ”It was a lack of commitment in the shots and a very disorganised chase.”
Most obviously, the result ended Giles’ hopes of becoming permanent head coach. He had been employed to oversee the limited-overs side and was well placed to succeed Andy Flower in the top job until this tournament debacle. He ended up on another path and is now the powerful director of men’s cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Broad never played another Twenty20 for England, with any hope of further leadership roles also nipped in the bud.
Of the 11 players on show that day, two went from strength to strength, however.
Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler ending up as captain and vice-captain for last summer’s dramatic triumph in the 50-over World Cup.
PA
