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England mourns; media whines

England is in mourning, so is its media, over the exit of the hosts from the cricket World Cup, after they lost to India by 63 runs at Edgbaston yesterday.

Michael Browning, chief of the organising committee, feared an instant impact on the tournament. "This is the nightmare scenario for us. If I had my way, the other 11 teams would be fighting it out to see who played England in the final. It is always important that host team does well," he said.

''We simply were not tough. It was completely unsatisfactory. We did not stand up to be counted when it mattered,'' declared England coach David Lloyd after the defeat.

Lloyd said: "The bottom line have not batted well enough. It is about onus. It is about standing up and making things happen. It is difficult for me to sit here and assess the side when we have played so poorly. It did not need me to tell the players that in the dressing room. It is desolate in there. England have been dumped out of the Cup and it hurts, but we don't have a divine right to win.''

While the media has blasted the English side, there were very few reports praising India's performance. It looked as if India did not deserve to win in the opinion of the press here.

Pakistan umpire Javed Akhtar also came under fire. "Akhtar's crushing decision," said The Express.

"A familiar finger of fate began England's miserable spiral of defeat," it said, adding "the distinctly dubious decision by umpire Javed Akhtar to give Graham Thorpe out lbw destroyed any realistic hope England had of beating India."

The paper, however, reminded Thorpe that this was the same Pakistani official who gave a string of highly debatable decisions in favour of England last summer during the Headingley Test victory, which brought a famous series win against South Africa.

Another headline in the same paper described the defeat as shameful. It read: ''England shame: disastrous early exit leaves huge doubt surrounding skipper's future.''

The article said: "Today the official World Cup song 'All over the world' is being launched. Perhaps, they should have chosen The carnival is over'."

In its four pages of reports on the tournament, there was hardly a mention of India, but for the scoreboard.

The Times said: "England's world is turned upside down, the carnival is over for the hosts after a shattering defeat. Failure to qualify for the second stage confirms they do not have enough players of world class. David Lloyd's three-year tenure as coach has ended in failure, Alec Stewart's position as captain is under review and the opportunity to inspire the young through world-beating performances by the national side has been lost. After bowling and fielding to a very high standard, the England batsmen, mentally weak and technically incompetent, failed once again when the chips were down."

The paper lashed out the International Cricket Council (ICC) for appointing umpires like Javed Akhtar.

"An umpire with no appreciation of geometry should not be allowed anywhere in the world. The ICC is to blame for preferring political correctness to proven competence in their selection of the umpires. The best players in the world deserve the best available officials, regardless of their nationality," it said.

The Daily Telegraph screamed: "England's sorry farewell allows India to party on." It said: "If it was a debacle for the team, it was also a debacle for the game at large. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) made it clear in their presentation of the tournament that this summer was going to be a celebration but England will not be participants. And the fact is, they don't deserve it."

"English cricket leaves its own party earlier," bemoaned The Guardian.

"The end of the world for England cricket came at 1.03 pm on a chilly afternoon at Edgbagston, yesterday," it said, adding "in the soap opera that is the English game, this will be seen as a particularly dark episode."

It further said: "A tournament initially undersold by the ECB was ultimately sold short by its players. The World Cup itself will continue to play before the sell-out crowds, but for the domestic game, it has been disaster.

"It started with England players squabbling with the ECB about more money, got underway with a cheap opening ceremony at Lord's on May 14 and ended three weeks before the final.

"Edgbagston is not the end of the world, but England glimpsed it there. Now they will not contest the World Cups on those shores for at least two decades. The show window has fallen victim to a ram raid."

The Sun called it "Doomsday". It said: "It is a disaster as our cricket hits new low."

The Daily Mail said: "It is all over, dad's army beat a humiliating retreat; England pressed the panic button and face a future laden with gloom."

"England pay the penalty for poor planning," was the verdict of The Independent, and described Javed Akhtar, the worst umpire in the World Cup. UNI