The World Cup is indebted to England

On the surface, sport is concerned with results and statistics: Who won? Who scored a century? Who is top of the rankings? At this very superficial level, sport’s main priority appears to be separating the good from the bad, and the good from the best. However, this understanding of sport is hollow and is only one facet of the entire spectacle. Sport should involve examples of breathtaking talent, miraculous turnarounds, and contests that are so evenly matched that not even experts can call the result, even when the denouement is upon them. This variety of sport engrosses those who witness it, allowing them to get caught up in a battle of skill, nerve and courage that has consequences that endure on the pitch, but can be left behind off of it. This domain of real yet inconsequential drama is one that only sport can truly fulfill.

With this in mind, it is our duty to express our gratitude to England for their efforts at this World Cup, for they are the only team who have consistently transcended numbers, rankings and results and have produced true sport, in all of its exasperating and euphoric dimensions. They have ignored the logic of rankings, beating the teams that are superior to them and losing to the teams that are worse. They have not considered the health of their fans, producing “classics” or “nail-biters” in every match they have participated. Indeed, they seem to have gone against all reason and every prediction; yet, irrespective of how far they go this tournament, they have produced the type of sport that fans desire above all else.

Enough has been written about the precise details of each match, so it is necessary to consider England’s impact on the tournament as a whole, as they were, indubitably, worth more than the results they achieved. England were the team that were most keenly anticipated, the side you would not trust to get a result, but you could rely on to deliver cricket that would stir the mind. Their cricket was brilliant and terrible, forgettable and indelible, heart-aching and heart-pounding, all in the space of one hundred overs or fewer. Any team that can induce these fluctuating emotions on such a repeated basis will earn many admirers.

Crushingly efficient teams leave us feeling cold and unsatisfied; hopelessly inept sides give rise to pity and anger; a team that can be both on the same day render us speechless – but in a good way. England have been the stand-out team of this World Cup, perhaps not always for the standard of cricket they have played, but, undoubtedly, for the quality of the contests they have produced. The tournament is indebted to England; they did not just represent the good, the bad and the ugly, they also laid out the template for what true sport should be, and showed that the absolute importance of spectacles far outweighs the relative unimportance of results. After all, sport should not ask ‘who’ or ‘how many’, but ‘how’ – that is all that matters.