England's Record Loss to New Zealand at the Cricket World Cup: Twitter Reacts

After New Zealand beat England by eight wickets (and with a record 226 balls to spare), Twitter has had a field day. 

No matter how good New Zealand were—and Tim Southee's 7-33 and Brendon McCullum's 25-ball 77 were both exceptional contributions—the focus remains on England taking such an embarrassing defeat.

First of all, here's the loss in graph form (with an added 'LOL' for good measure):

"

Sorry English cricket fans but this is hilarious 😃 #NZvENG pic.twitter.com/bnjTXQ4ecY

— Ziyaad LFC (@ZIYAAD_LFC) February 20, 2015"

And sometimes stats tell their own painful story, as they do here for Steven Finn's bowling (complete with World Cup hat-trick in his first game):

"

Steve Finn in #CWC15 10-0-71-5 (R/o 7.10) 2-0-49-0 (R/o 24.50) ---------------------------------- 12-0-120-5 (R/o 10.00) #NZvEng

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) February 20, 2015"

Still, at least England can play for the Ashes of their ODI cricket now, as @FredBoycott mocks up:

"

Game Over... #CWC15 pic.twitter.com/EU5L9Avn4u

— Fred Boycott (@FredBoycott) February 20, 2015"

"

This is the worst England cricket performance in 150 years. We're witnessing history. #NZvENG

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 20, 2015"

So who to blame? Former England captain Michael Vaughan hinted it was the coach, Peter Moores:

"

A year ago Paul Downton described Peter Moores as the 'Coach of his Generation' !!!

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 20, 2015"

A penny for Kevin Pietersen's thoughts?

"

Kevin Pietersen's reaction after #ENGvNZ match . pic.twitter.com/eVmdH7ON1R

— Stuart Binny (@SirStuartBinny) February 20, 2015"

Some tried visual metaphors:

"

Even this 'thing' less one-sided than #EngVNZ. #CWC15 pic.twitter.com/5qwwJul785

— cricBC (@cricBC) February 20, 2015"

"

Yes England, the ship has sailed... #cwc15 #NZvENG pic.twitter.com/goCHiNjAOI

— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) February 20, 2015"

"

Lots of dead wood ready to be shipped outside the ground....insert pun here... #CWC15 #NZvENG pic.twitter.com/7qI8rNbqo8

— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) February 20, 2015"

There was a moment of farce when, with the game all but up, the rules dictated lunch had to be taken. Not that Piers Morgan was countenancing food for England's beaten players:

"

If any England player dares to eat lunch, I want them flown home immediately.

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 20, 2015"

At least the ECB's Twitter account had plenty of time to prep a message of congratulations to their hosts:

"

@ECB_cricket you had this tweet saved in drafts for more than couple hours now, didn't you? :P

— Mahesh De Silva #63* (@CharterKubiya) February 20, 2015"

Sometimes, though, like an England player at a press conference, you just have to take the postives:

"

England are so much funnier than any other team could ever hope to be.

— Dave Tickner (@tickerscricket) February 20, 2015"