Defending champions England came up with a toothless display in the ODI World Cup 2023, recording their sixth defeat from seven group-stage games. Having claimed their first ODI World Cup crown at home in 2019, England were eliminated from the race for the semifinals on Saturday at the Narendra Modi Stadium after their 33-run loss to fellow rivals Australia.
The victory helped Australia cement their place in the top four, but it left England rock bottom in the points table with just 2 points on the board.
It was a shocking performance from the defending champions, however, England are not the first team who have misfired by epic proportions after having tasted glory earlier in the tournament.
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In fact, England became the latest entrant into the two-team club featuring former champions Australia and Sri Lanka who had a similar horror show back in the 90s.
Australia were in fact the first defending champions of the Cricket World Cup who crashed out of the tournament in the group stage itself, having lifted the trophy four prior in 1987.
The co-hosts of the 1992 edition of the World Cup were considered favourites, but they were too jaded by the time the tournament came around, after a five-match Test series and a 15-match triangular tournament.
The result? Australia could win just one of their first four matches, and their solitary win came by just a single run.
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They were the first defending champion to crash out of the World Cup without finishing in the top four in 1992.
Fast forward to 1999, it was arguably the worst performance by a defending champion side. Having lifted their maiden World Cup crown in 1996, Sri Lanka managed to beat only Zimbabwe and Kenya in 1999 and finished fifth in their group. To put some context to it, Sri Lanka were out of the tournament, even before the delayed anthem for that year’s World Cup was released.
Cut to 2023, England’s solitary win over Bangladesh saw them get off the mark, but with two matches remaining, they will be hoping to avoid further embarrassment.
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