England Beat Pakistan to the T20 Cricket World Cup in Supreme Style
The English T20 cricketers have once again won the biggest trophy in the sport, securing a legacy as one of the strongest teams in the sport’s history. The five-wicket victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday was one of the most convincing England victories in recent years. A team that is stacked full of the world’s finest white-ball cricketers certainly didn’t disappoint – with Sam Curran taking 3 for 12, and Ben Stokes with a heroic 52 not out proving why he is considered the ultimate cricketer for the defining moments of a match.
The cricketing action that saw England win their second consecutive World Cup title has gone down in history, those lucky enough to witness the moment at the Melbourne stadium are a privileged crowd indeed. ©Chillibibi/Pixabay
The saying goes that good teams can only do it once – great teams can go again and grab the trophy a second time. That’s exactly what England did this weekend in Melbourne. The win back in 2019 will always go down as an exceptional moment for the cricket history of England, it was a home tournament – and they had to win against the odds. But dig a little bit into the details of how this match transpired, and it seems even more impressive that they were able to pull it off.
This win by England is arguably one of their most impressive ever. Dig into the details and it’s clear that the team have gone far above and beyond the successes of their previous encounters with this win. The first thing to note is that they are not playing on home turf with this victory – making more challenging. Another limiting aspect to the victory would have been the huge injury list on the England squad – five of the first team players were missing from the squad, making this a patchwork side that had much less experience playing together than the 2019 World Cup winners.
Unfortunately for Pakistan this victory spells more trouble for the embattled team. With nothing to show in terms of silverware in recent years, it really is an unfortunate set of events that they’re unable to bring home the trophy to their nation. With that being said, the Pakistani team have a lot to be proud of in their current form and getting to the final of this year’s World Cup is a massive achievement for the players and staff.
Many British Sports Teams Fall at the Final Hurdle, Not This One
British sports fans thinking back to the EURO 2020 football tournament will remember the anguish and feeling of coming so close to victory but failing to capitalize at the final hurdle. It’s not the case for this team however, the England cricketers have proven themselves to be one of the most reliable when it comes to handling high pressure situations.
It’s not surprising that no men’s cricket team has managed to join two World Cup titles together before – the sport is highly competitive, and it’s difficult to remain dominant for a long period of time. Twenty20 cricket is a chaotic version of cricket – where the variables of unpredictability are far more pertinent. Big hitters and 90mph bowlers can turn the face of a game in a matter of seconds, making any guarantees about the quality of a team basically impossible to predict.
The England team in their victory were of course pushed to the limit by an outstanding Pakistan team, that despite all the trials and tribulations they endure back on their home turf, had to handle things in the most amicable way possible. Whether it be losing key players to injury, or having short luck at the crease, the Pakistani players pushed all the way and can feel quite unlucky for losing in the style that they did.
So then, Ben Stokes has proven his weight in gold once more, and can quite clearly go down in history as one of the true greats in the white ball version of the game. England as a team have done what no other nation has been able to do before them and win two consecutive Twenty20 World Cup tournaments against the odds. It’s a phenomenal achievement – and certainly one that will go down a long time in the memory of British sports fans.
