That’s exactly what a stubborn spoilt brat would say. In any defeat or failure, you can glean a lot of lessons. Heck even in victory.
Here is what England did wrong:
1. Fielded bad.. maybe an off day but they can certainly take that lesson forward. Field better
2. Don’t under estimate anyone.. And never Pakistan. From Morgan’s face, to team selection, to decision to bowl first, you could tell they had already made up their mind they were winners before they even stepped on the field
3. Don’t experiment thinking it’s an easy game. Plunkett the regular mid overs bowler was dropped.. and England struggled in the mid overs.
4. If a trick worked for one team on a particular day, don’t think it will keep on working for you as well. Pakistanis did their homework on the short ball. England thought they could just roll them over but it didn’t happen.
5. Last but not least.. scoreboard pressure of a World Cup game is entirely different from a regular game.
If you forcefully want to create lessons for England and explain what went wrong, why stop at 5? you can come up with a dozen. However, the points that you are raised are heavily based on assumptions except the first one.
1. England fielded poorly:
Yes they did, but their fielding has largely been excellent in recent years. In fact, they took a couple of stunners against Pakistan as well, but Roy dropped a sitter because for some reason he decided to field without his sunglasses with the sun in his eyes.
2. England underestimated Pakistan:
There is no reason to believe that England underestimated Pakistan. Unless you are an expert in interpreting facial expressions, Morgan's presser didn't imply that England were taking this game lightly. In fact, he explicitly stated that they were preparing for Pakistan's best.
In fact, England have been one team that has hyped Pakistan up leading into the World Cup because of the Champions Trophy.
As far as the decision to bowl first was concerned, it was influenced by England's brilliant chasing record at home. It is not about overconfidence, it is about sticking to their strengths.
Had England batted first and lost, people would have used hindsight to criticise England for being overconfident and not sticking to what was working with them. A classic example of damned if you, damned if you don't.
3. Don’t experiment thinking it’s an easy game:
Picking Woods over Plunkett was a mistake, but again, we are speaking in hindsight. Plunkett played 3 games against Pakistan in the recently concluded series and he was ineffective. Mark Wood is quicker and gets extra lift from the pitch. Anyone captain would have probably opted for him over Plunkett after seeing how uncomfortable Pakistani batsmen were against WI's short-pitched bowling.
4. If a trick worked for one team on a particular day, don’t think it will keep on working for you as well.
Again, the convenience of hindsight. If a trick works against a particular team and you don't try to implement that trick and fail, people will criticise you for not learning. Had England not tried the short-ball tactic and lost the game, you would most likely criticise Morgan for not taking a leaf out of WI's book.
Besides, one match has not made our batsmen Pontings and Viv Richards against short-pitched bowling. We are still very weak and teams will still try to exploit our weakness.
5. Last but not least.. scoreboard pressure of a World Cup game is entirely different from a regular game.
Pressure is ultimately self-created. England's best chance of winning the World Cup is to stick to what has worked for them for four years. If you have a bad day, you have a bad day and there is nothing you can do about it.
They lost the semifinal of the Champions Trophy batting first, and they don't need to fall into the trap of doing things differently because it is a World Cup. They have to stick to what they are doing, because it works.
If England try to do things differently and change their strategy because it is a World Cup, they will put themselves under enormous pressure, but if they stick to their tactics, they will be able to play with a clear head. The last four World Cups have been won by teams that were touted as the pre-tournament favourites, and they were able to do it because they stuck to what worked for them instead of trying different strategies because it's the World Cup.
Finally, along with trying to do different things because of self-inflicted pressure, the worst thing England can do right now is panic, which leads back to trying different things when they shouldn't.
In the 2011 World Cup, in spite of being the favourites and playing at home, India lost to South Africa and tied with England in its first few games, but they didn't panic and they stuck to their guns, eventually succeeding.
England need to do the same, because it gives them their best possible chance of winning the World Cup.
