It's darkest day in history of English cricket: Media

London:

England's shocking four-wicket upset against the Netherlands in the World T20 Championship opener has drawn flak from the British media, who described it as the "darkest day" in the hosts' cricket history.

The Dutch, who don't even enjoy the status to play one-day internationals, stunned England with a last-ball victory at Lord's last night.

"Never in the error-strewn history of English cricket, never in the rich 195-year history of Lord's, has there been a day as dark," wrote one of the leading British newspapers 'The Daily Mail'.

"Simply, this is their worst defeat in any competitive international match," it added.

'The Daily Express' has lebelled the loss as a "humiliation" and compared the "most embarrassing defeat" in England's history to "a rocking horse winning the Grand National."

"England have had some bad days in one-day cricket, including defeats by Zimbabwe and early exits from tournaments, but none will have hurt like this humiliation.

"This was like Stockport beating Manchester United in the FA Cup, or a rocking horse winning the Grand National," it wrote.

Tabloid 'The Sun' had a headline, "Clogs 1 Clots 0". The paper mainly criticised English pacer Stuart Broad, whose overthrow handed the Dutch a last-gasp victory.

"Stuart Broad was made to look a total lemon by the orange men of Holland," it said, rueing his "over from hell".

Another newspaper 'The Daily Teleghraph' has described the Netherlands team as an amateur side, terming it a "rag-tag assortment of Dutch cricketers made up of downhill skier, a debt collector and a 37-year-old advertising executive."

"His (captain Paul Collingwood's) team suffered an opening day disaster at Lord's yesterday as they lost by four wickets to a rag-tag assortment of Dutch cricketers made up of downhill skier, a debt collector and a 37-year-old advertising executive.

"It's lucky the Dutch didn't pick Burger King employee Mudassar Bukhari or England could have made even more of a dog's dinner of their World Twenty20 campaign," it read.

'The Mirror' slammed England for making themselves a laughing stock at the hands of "no-hoppers" Netherlands.

"England became the laughing stock of world cricket last night when they were clogged by no-hopers Holland at their own Twenty20 bash," it read.