Has there ever been a more despairing 24-hour period in English sport?
Probably, but after England’s dismal performance during the 1-0 defeat to Iceland at Wembley and the T20 World Cup battering suffered against Australia in Bridgetown it’s difficult to immediately bring one to mind.
Of course, this may well be recency bias, a good old fashioned kneejerk reaction or just plain grumpiness but the two defeats hardly augur well for the rest of a sporting summer which promised so much and is now in danger of providing so little.
England had only one shot on target on Friday and were booed at the final whistle while residents in Rihanna Drive outside the Kensington Oval were sent scurrying for cover as David Warner and Travis Head launched a barrages of sixes over the Greenidge and Haynes Stand and into the street during the Baggy Greens’ 36-run victory.
There’s time for both England’s football and cricket teams to right the ship but changes are needed in both camps to avoid stormy seas and sail into less troubled waters.
Both camps have players who are severely undercooked with Harry Kane, John Stones, Kieran Trippier and Luke Shaw going into Euro 2024 having all missed significant minutes for their clubs, while Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan and Adil Rashid lacked the battle-hardened experience of the Australia batters after not playing in the Indian Premier League and with two warm-up matches against Pakistan then washed out.
England also started slowly when winning the last T20 World Cup and despite having work to do there’s no reason why they can’t smash both Oman and Namibia in Antigua on Thursday and Saturday to reach the Super Eights in good heart.
The Three Lions have similar concerns after recent injuries as well as worrying doubts that Gareth Southgate’s conservative tactics won’t get the best out his star-studded squad.
England were 3/1 favourites to win Euro 2024 before the warm-up matches and have now been pushed out to 4/1 with Betfred, while Jos Buttler’s boys have drifted out to 8/1 to retain their title with Betway and BoyleSports.
Now is the time to strike for patriotic punters to back their teams but don’t put the mortgage on it and other options are available.
• Iga Swiatek cruised to her fourth French Open title at Roland Garros and will attract plenty of support as she sets her sights on Wimbledon. The world No.1 is 4/1 second favourite with BetUK and Unibet but has never been beyond the quarter-finals at the All England Club.
Aryna Sabalenka is the 10/3 market leader with Betfred but preference goes to Ons Jabeur, runner-up the last two years, who is worth an each-way punt at 14/1 with Bet Victor.
• South Africa had to pull out all the stops to avoid a third World Cup defeat to the Netherlands in New York on Saturday, eventually winning by four wickets. David Miller hit an unbeaten 59 to see them home and is 11/1 with Sky Bet to be the top overall batter in their next T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh. Miller can also be backed at 15/2 with Betfred to be the Proteas’ top runscorer
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