World T20: For England fans who expect them to fail, Morgan's band of brothers is a breath of fresh air

Following England is like being in love with someone who is selfish, uncaring and only interested in themselves. You give them your time, your money and your affection and in return they hurt you. For those of us that grew up watching England play cricket in the 1990s it is like an abusive relationship that we just can’t move out of. [caption id=“attachment_2704690” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] England batsmen Joe Root (left) and Jos Buttler after the win against New Zealand in Kotla on Wednesday. Solaris Images[/caption] The bruises from this catalogue of ills that England have inflicted on us over the years are still very raw and as a result it is difficult to believe it when things are going well. An England fan’s Twitter feed during a game that they looked like they were going to win is full of superstition and bitter recriminations for anyone that dares to be confident. Even after 10 years of sustained success that has seen England win the Ashes (lots), Tests away in India, a World T20 and seen them sit atop the rankings in every format, the fear of failure still sits on chest like a school bully who has been held back a year and is twice your size. Even the way England fans view this team, this wonderful team full of exciting cricketers who are nice guys, is with distrust. A semi-final against New Zealand isn’t an opportunity to succeed, it is a chance to fail. That isn’t how these England players view things, they say they will play fearless cricket and then they go on and play cricket without any modicum of fear. The supporters of any other nation would be shouting from the rooftops about how their team had the most exciting batting line-up in the world. About how they could chase down 230 against South Africa and make it look easy. About how they could have an eighth-wicket stand that could turn a game. Not England fans though. Even after this last year of success in white-ball cricket they still expect failure. Up until this point in ICC World T20, England’s successes have stemmed from their batting, although the death bowling efforts of Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan at the end of the Sri Lanka match in group stage were great. But at no point in the last six months have this England T20 side put together a complete bowling performance. Until the World T20 semi-final in Delhi on Wednesday night, that is. There they were, brilliant with the ball throughout and never looked like panicking even as Colin Munro was taking the game away from them. If England were going to make it to the final, the smart money was on them doing it with the bat, instead they did it with the ball. In the last four overs of New Zealand’s innings England conceded just 20 runs and took four wickets. On a pitch where the Black Caps should have made 180 they were restricted to 153-8, and once again it was the death bowling of Stokes and Jordan that made that possible. For England to win they needed to chase a sub-par total on a very good wicket. Even then the fear was there, the certain knowledge that they would conspire to let us down. Search Twitter and you will find innumerable “how are England going to manage to lose this from here?” tweets. But England’s stellar batting line-up didn’t let anyone down; there were no real alarms and hardly any surprises. Jason Roy rewarded England’s faith in him with a career-best 78 from 44 balls that had won England the game inside the PowerPlay. By the time the sixth over was done and the fielding restrictions were loosened, England had the required rate down to a run-a-ball. An opening stand of 82 between Roy and Alex Hales made it look ridiculously easy. There was a slight hiccup; Roy was bowled by Ish Sodhi and Eoin Morgan was out LBW the very next ball. This got the nerves jingling again but in reality the game was over as a contest. England needed 43 to win at less than six an over with seven wickets in hand and a batting line-up that goes all the way down to 11. Joe Root and Jos Buttler took an over or two to steady themselves and then finished it off with ease. Buttler hit three sixes — including one over mid-wicket to win the game. There were 17 balls remaining. England had put together a perfect T20 performance to beat a side that were on a six match winning streak. That burst at the end from Buttler was like a warm hug that showed you that you were cared for after all. That for all the times England have hurt us, all the collapses, the sacking of the best player, the “inside cricket” comments, they really cared for us after all. England move on to the final in Kolkata where they will face either the West Indies or India.They have already lost to the West Indies in this tournament and India would be playing at home. No one would make them favourites and we will go through this process of doubting them all over again. But if they can put together a performance like this one, if they can bowl well and bat well, then they could win the whole bloody thing. And even if they do that and collect their second World T20, a feat that no other team has achieved, we will all still be doubting them the next time they take the field. Maybe it is the England team that are in an abusive relationship with their fans.