England are yet to win a global One-Day International title after what was their fifth defeat in a final. PHOTO: REUTERS
Eoin Morgan (33) and Ravi Bopara (30) steered England towards the victory target before four wickets fell in the space of three runs. James Tredwell was unable to hit a six off the final ball, giving India another One-Day International (ODI) title.
Cook, who termed Sunday’s match his worst day as England captain, said it has been a pretty hectic start to the season.
“All the guys have a few days off and we’ll have to use that,” said Cook. “It’s been a pretty hectic start to the summer. It’s only going to get obviously busier and busier. So we have to recharge our batteries as well.”
England, with Bopara taking three for 20 with his medium-pacers, appeared to have done the hard part in holding India to a relatively modest score.
But against a well-balanced India attack, England came up agonisingly short.
“Clearly from there you would back yourself to win more times than you would lose in that situation, but it shows how quickly games can change in Twenty20 when you lose a couple of wickets.
“Towards the end, when it’s spinning as much as that, it’s very hard for the new guys coming in.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow at the moment. We had high hopes coming of achieving something very special.
“Credit to India. I thought they bowled very well on that wicket.”
Although England were the tournament hosts and home side, the capacity crowd at Edgbaston in Birmingham – which boasts one of the largest Asian populations of any British city – was vociferously in favour of India.
“There were quite a lot of Indians there today, but we kind of expected that. That’s no excuse why we lost.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2013.
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