Zimbabwe beating Australia to the Dutch downing England (twice)...
Monday 7 March 2016 15:58, UK
The ICC World T20 usually provides a shock or two. Just ask England...
Twice they have been beaten by the Netherlands, in a final-ball thriller on home soil in 2009 before a brutal battering in Bangladesh in 2014.
But is either the biggest-ever upset in World T20 history? Which of these top five shock results do YOU think is the greatest?
2007: Zimbabwe beat Australia
Responsible for the first-ever World Cup upset in 1983, Zimbabwe repeated the trick in T20 cricket, once again besting Australia in the 2007 World T20. An Australian side sporting the likes of Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, and Ricky Ponting were expected to see off Zimbabwe with relative ease.
Not so - those three were dismissed inside the first four overs as seamers Elton Chigumbura (3-20) and Gary Brent (2-19) ran through Australia, reducing them to 138-9. The run-chase was a tense affair with Zimbabwe 75-4 just past the midway mark when rain interrupted, before a nerveless 60 from 45 balls by Brendan Taylor saw the side home with a ball to spare.
2007: Bangladesh beat West Indies
It seemed unimaginable when Chris Gayle (117 off 57 balls) kicked off the 2007 tournament with the first-ever T20I hundred, but after South Africa chased down their 206-run target in a classic encounter, an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Bangladesh subsequently saw the West Indies knocked out inside two days.
Gayle was out for a three-ball duck as the West Indies were restricted to 164-8, the then 20-year-old Shakib Al Hasan taking 4-34, before Bangladesh cruised to their target with two overs to spare, with Mohammad Ashraful - remember him? - tonking 61 from 27 balls.
2009: Netherlands beat England
Ten years on from England's embarrassing early exit as hosts of the 1999 World Cup, even more inevitable than a dodgy England display to open their hosting of the World T20 was the rain that delayed the game, and curtailed the opening ceremony - poor Alesha Dixon didn't even get to sing!
Once underway, Luke Wright (71 off 49) and Ravi Bopara (46 off 34) belied the struggles to come in a century opening stand as England scored 162-5 - surely enough, right? Wrong. Tom de Grooth smashed 49 from 30 and the more familiar name of Ryan ten Doeschate, an unbeaten 22 from 17, as the game went to the wire. With two needed from the final ball, Stuart Broad missed with a shy at all three stumps and the Netherlands earned a famous win on overthrows.
2014: Hong Kong beat Bangladesh
The 2014 World T20 was the first time more than two associate nations were able to take part, with six competing alongside Bangladesh and Zimbabwe looking to take one of two spots to qualify for the Super 10 stage where England, Australia et al awaited.
Hong Kong hadn't made the most of their opportunity, suffering heavy defeats to Nepal (80 runs) and Afghanistan (seven wickets) but bowed out with a bang, beating Bangladesh by two wickets. Spinners Nadeem Ahmed (4-21) and Nizakat Khan (3-19) helped Hong Kong bowl Bangladesh out for 108, before a three-six salvo from opener Irfan Ahmed (34 off 28), and the lower-order efforts of Munir Dar (36 off 27), saw them to the win.
2014: Netherlands beat England
Déjà vu for the Dutch, although five years on from their final-ball triumph in 2009 the Netherlands this time comprehensively and clinically disposed of England. Set only 134 to win, a jaded England outfit, already out of the tournament, and fresh from a 5-0 Ashes drubbing down under, crumbled to 88 all out in reply.
Only three batsmen reached double figures - Alex Hales (12), Ravi Bopara (18) and Chris Jordan (14) - as military medium-pacers Logan van Beek (3-9) and Mudassar Bukhari (3-12) made light work of England's feeble resistance.
