Bengaluru, Feb 20: Are three-times runners-up England the most over-hyped team in World Cup cricket? The back-to-back thrashings they received from Australia and , the two organisers of the 2015 World Cup are a pointer to the fact that England still have a long distance to go if they fancy to lift their maiden World Cup title some time in the future.
World Cup Special
If we go by history, England have failed to deliver against good teams or just about managed to win against them in all World Cups since 1992 when they had last played the final but lost to Pakistan.
Ever since the World Cup's format has been expanded, England have just about managed to grab the last or second-last berth of qualifiers to the next round but invariably lost in the knock-out rounds.
In 1996, England lost to big teams like Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand but managed to reach the quarter-finals by beating debutants United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands. In the quarterfinal, they were blown away by Sri Lanka.
In 1999, England were the hosts but they failed to make even the second round. They had finished at six points with India and Zimbabwe but lost out on the net run-rate. More importantly, England could only win against struggling defending champions Sri Lanka, minnows Kenya and a just-about better Zimbabwe.
In 2003, England's only memorable win came against Pakistan when James Anderson destroyed them. But apart from that, England could win only against minnows like Netherlands and Namibia. They had arch-rivals Australia in the coffin but failed to find the nails. They were eliminated after the first round.
Most of England's wins in WC cricket since 1992 have come against low teams
In 2007, England beat Kenya and Canada in the group stage and just managed to defeat Ireland, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the Super Eight stage. The win against Sri Lanka, the eventual runners-up in that edition, was just by a wicket. England could not make it to the semifinals.
In 2011, England managed some narrow wins against South Africa (6 runs) and West Indies (18 runs) and tied their match against India. They beat the Netherlands by 6 wickets. In the quarter-final, England was crushed by Sri Lanka by 10 wickets.
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