England’s disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign is shaping up to be their worst-ever following their third consecutive loss of the tournament.
To bet on the World Cup with our Match Centre Partners bet365 head here.
It’s by no means unfamiliar territory for England fans, if disappointing after their 2019 triumph. However, in the context of how they’ve performed in other tournaments over the last three decades, 2023 is in keeping with a sub-par trend, 2019 being an anomalous result.
With that in mind, here are all of England’s World Cup disasters from the last three decades ranked, from the post-1992 success flop in 1996 right the way to Jos Buttler’s motley crew.
8. 1996
Fresh from losing to Imran Khan’s Pakistan at the MCG in 1992, England’s next bid for a first 50-over crown was a typically damp squib. In a pre-cursor to 2023, they lost their opening match of the tournament to New Zealand in Ahmedabad. They picked up with big wins over the UAE and the Netherlands before coming unstuck against South Africa in Rawalpindi. They were then beaten by Pakistan but still managed to make the quarter-finals given the top four teams from the group advanced to the knock outs. Sri Lanka comfortably beat them by five wickets, chasing down 236 with ten overs to spare. In the scheme of things, while disappointing, the tournament lacked the big upset it needed to make it a truly great England disaster-class.
7. 2007
2007 was another where England made it through to the knock outs thanks to a favourable format. The tone was set when Ed Joyce was out off a no-ball re-bowl from England’s first ball of the tournament. From there after qualifying for the Super Eight by virtue of beating Canada and Kenya, England were beaten by Sri Lanka by two runs, Australia and South Africa. They missed out on the semi-finals despite beating West Indies, Bangladesh and Ireland, finishing the tournament as the fifth-placed side. No disgrace.
6. 1999
Having started out their campaign strongly with an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka (the last time they recorded a victory over Sri Lanka in a men’s 50-over World Cup) and a nine-wicket win over Kenya, their campaign rapidly came off the rails. Big losses to South Africa and India dealt such a blow to their net run rate that not even a seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe could save them. They missed out on Super Six qualification by 0.35 on net run rate.
5. 2011
The abiding memory of England’s 2011 campaign is Kevin O’Brien’s masterpiece in Bengaluru. However, it’s worth remembering that by that point in the tournament England had already beaten the Netherlands and tied with eventual winners India. They then beat South Africa thanks to four wickets from Stuart Broad, but were shocked by Bangladesh. Despite two upsets, England once again found themselves in a World Cup quarter final, where they were thumped by ten wickets by Sri Lanka.
4. 2003
2003 marks the start of the proper ‘wheels off’ tournaments on this list. A lot of that comes down to the forfeit to Zimbabwe, which was outside of cricketing reasons, but thumpings from Pakistan and India were disappointing affairs. While they essentially beat all the teams they were supposed to beat in the Netherlands and Namibia, a two-wicket loss to Australia sealed their fate, and England were knocked out in the group stage. Nasser Hussain immediately resigned following the tournament.
3. 1999
Having started out their campaign strongly with an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka (the last time they recorded a victory over Sri Lanka in a men’s fifty-over World Cup) and a nine-wicket win over Kenya, their campaign rapidly came off the rails. Big losses to South Africa and India dealt such a blow to their net run rate that not even a seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe could save them. They missed out on Super Six qualification by 0.35 on net run rate.
2. 2015
England fans will have hoped 2015 would forever hold the top spot in their World Cup capitulation hall of fame. The memories of it are truly nightmare inducing. Eoin Morgan tossed the captaincy weeks before the tournament, an opening thumping to Australia, bowled out for 123 by New Zealand, and that’s before we even get to the Bangladesh loss. The only redeemable feature of that tournament from an England perspective was the wholesale change which followed it, the origins of their 2019 triumph.
1. 2023
Even just over halfway through the campaign, the 2023 World Cup takes the top spot as the worst of England’s modern horror shows. They went in as defending champions, odds on to be in the semis if not the final, but any hopes of that were quickly vanquished, first by the Rachin Ravindra show, before Afghanistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka piled on the pain. If you can set aside how out of form every single one of their players look, the most torturous part of the campaign is the format. England still have to play four games before they can head home with their tails between their legs once more. They also still have to play two of the best teams in the tournament. Once again, they find themselves asking, it can’t get any worse, can it?
