A sample of what the world's media had to say after Scott Styris helped New Zealand overcome a shaky start to truimph over England in today's World Cup cricket match.
The Guardian's World Cup blog, London
England have gone really flat very quickly - Lucozade does that sometimes, has anyone noticed? It's incredibly irritating - and Pietersen's misfield gives Styris an extra run. It's turning out to be a rather humbling defeat, this, and confirms the perception that England are the worst of the big eight teams in this tournament. Too many bits, not enough pieces.
I don't suppose that a procedure exists for recalling MBEs on grounds of 'abject failure'?" asks Lou Roper, whose name sounds a bit like a U2 album. It's come to this.
"Nothing wrong with losing your first game in a World Cup when the team is fundamentally strong," says Jacob Murray-White. "Just think back to Australia in 1999." What about losing your first game when your team is fundamentally gash?
It's ball-by-ball blog concludes:
Styris, surely the man of the match, ends on 87, with Oram on 63. It's been an absolutely emphatic defeat from England..... I'm off to mainline some liquor. Thank you for your company. It's been inevitable.
The BBC's World Cup Blog, London
This venue will stage one of the semi finals, and we can only hope that the pitch will be considerably better then this one.
A pitch for a one-day game needs pace and reliable bounce - attributes missing from the strip used for this game.
But teams whose bowlers specialise in taking the pace off the ball like Sri Lanka and New Zealand, for that matter, would not complain if events conspire to place them here for the semi.
Nick Knight from UK's Sky Sport
Well it is not all doom and gloom.
Yes it was a big game for two big points and England have not got them. But go back two months and they were really struggling in Australia, all of a sudden with a click of the fingers things started to go right. They addressed the basics and they won a big series.
They will hold onto that at this point and going forward with the rest of the competition.
The Times, London
England's rapid repairs reduced to rubble by steady hand of Styris: "A 50-over match is scheduled to last for seven hours, but England managed to lose this one during a period spanning only 20 minutes. Neither a plucky recovery stand nor inspired new-ball bowling was enough to repair damage caused by the calamitous fall of four wickets in 21 balls at a critical stage of their innings."
This is Scotland
"England paid the price for failing to heed the mistakes made during their build-up to the World Cup and suffered a costly six-wicket defeat to New Zealand. A paltry 209 for seven having been put into bat in the heavyweight Group C encounter was not enough to test the Kiwis.....Captain Michael Vaughan had stressed the need to analyse and absorb the lessons learned from their warm-up defeat to Australia in St Vincent a week earlier when England let a promising position slip and suffered a comprehensive defeat."
Daily Telegraph, London
Beaten England show Inexperience: "England continued their appalling World Cup record against Test playing sides when they lost their opening match against New Zealand.....The defeat, while indisputably making life much harder for Michael Vaughan's team, is not totally disastrous. Providing they beat the two minnows in their group their position is not irretrievable. It won't be easy mind."
The Sun, London
England slump to first defeat: "England slumped to a six-wicket loss in their World Cup opener as New Zealand cantered home with nine overs to spare. Kevin Pietersen's soft exit after his 60 revived England proved crucial, despite James Anderson striking twice as the Kiwis' reply crumbled to 18-3."
Cricinfo.com's Tony Grieg
"Watch out for Bond.
"A good victory for New Zealand, and England on the other hand just failed to penetrate enough. The performance of Shane Bond was inspiring and he could well be one of the big names in the World Cup."
The Independent, London
Pietersen dismissal typifies frailities: "No team, not even the mighty Australians, can afford to lose their three best batsmen in the space of seven balls for the addition of one run and expect to win a match of this stature. Yet that is just what an irresponsible England side managed to do in the opening match of their World Cup campaign against New Zealand here in St Lucia."
KEY POINTS:
A sample of what the world's media had to say after Scott Styris helped New Zealand overcome a shaky start to truimph over England in today's World Cup cricket match.
