5 England losses that shocked the world

England is where the beautiful game of cricket originated. Despite the fact that England have never won an ODI world cup, they still are a cricket powerhouse. Cricket holds a special place in English heritage. Many all-time greats of the game have been from England.

Apart from producing world class players ranging from Sir Ian Botham, Mike Gatting to Andrew Flintoff, Alastair Cook and many more, England have been accused to be chokers of the gentleman’s game. With 6 finals lost in all ICC tournaments, the English have come up short on quite a few times.

But if there is one record more embarrassing than that is their history of trembling against the minnows. England have had a slip up one too many times and to put it in a phrase: It is embarrassing.

England have been part of major upsets in cricket history some they wouldn't be too proud of.

Here are the five times English cricket team was embarrassed on the international stage by lesser opponents:

England vs Scotland at The Grange, Edinburgh, 2018

Perhaps the most recent shocker of world cricket. England are the number 1 ranked ODI team in the recent ICC rankings and were expected to brush aside Scotland with ease. with 3 losses in as many matches before barring their one undecided match, not many people gave Scotland a chance against England.

But Calum Mcleod had other plans as he scored 140 runs off 94 deliveries to help Scotland post a mammoth total of 371. England started out brilliantly with Johny Bairstow scoring 3rd fastest century in English history and looked like chasing down the target. But with wickets falling regularly England finished shot of 5 runs to give Scotland their sole win over their English neighbours. Eoin Morgan's men slipped to a shock defeat at the hands of Ireland, something they would like to erase from their history. A day Scottish fans will never forget.

England vs Netherlands at Lords, 2009

ICC World Twenty20 Group Match - England v

Netherlands

This was the biggest upset of 2009. England the host nation, one of the favourites of the tournament up against the Netherlands- sounds like cakewalk except it wasn’t. Netherlands playing their first t20 match in a world t20 tournament chased down England's target of 162 to give their nation a moment to rejoice. Though the Dutch were eliminated after group stage with this being their sole victory of the tournament, it was something their fans and English fans will never forget.

England vs Ireland at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, 2011

England v Ireland: Group B - 2011 ICC World Cup

2011 world cup was hosted in the subcontinent – India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. England started the world cup on a high winning their opening match comprehensively and then taking the hosts, India to the wire in their tied result at Bangalore. Their match against Ireland wasn’t up for debate with the English expected to romp past Ireland.

With 329-7 on board after first innings, England looked like to have won the match before Ireland even came out to bat but Kevin O'Brien had other plans. The hard-hitting Irishman played out of his skin to score the fastest world cup century of all time to deny England the victory. He got out at 113 but the damage was done by then.

England vs Bangladesh at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, 2011

Bangladeshi cricketers Mahmudullah (L) a

England had a mixed campaign at 2011 world cup – winning against the likes of South Africa, West Indies and then losing to Ireland and Bangladesh. Their campaign ended on a disappointing note with a hard loss to Sri Lanka in the quarterfinals.

But one thing that really hurt England's confidence was their losses against the minnows. Bangladesh isn’t exactly a minnow these days but back then they were being brushed aside by heavyweights with ease. The same was expected in their match against England but the cricketing gods had a different story written.

Batting England posted a low score of 225, it wasn’t their best batting performance but they were still expected to beat Bangladesh. Bangladesh didn’t set the world alight as they started out poorly and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. With 169-8 it looked like England had saved themselves from another humiliation but once again they became victims of late heroics by an underdog nation. Bangladeshi tailenders batted with sheer persistence to chase down England's total and have something to cheer for in an otherwise disappointing world cup.

England vs Netherlands at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, 2014

England v Netherlands - ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014

If there is one thing Netherlands cricket team does well is beat England in a t20 match.if the first time was a shock then this time it was more of a humiliation. They humbled their opponents once again as England bundled to a low score of 88 while chasing a target of 136. English batsmen kept walking back to the pavilion one after another. Ravi Bopara was England's top scorer with 18 runs just tells us how disappointing their performance was.

Nevertheless, both England and Netherlands failed to reach the quarterfinals but the Dutch got better of England once more. Till date, the Netherlands is the only nation to have an unbeaten record over England in t20 internationals.