The reality? England have lost. England have lost to Bangladesh. England could go out of the World Cup.
None of this matters. They lost to Bangladesh. Disgrace!
Ok. It's sensationalist. It's unfair. It's lacking in context, balance and grace. But, nevertheless, it is the overriding public opinion. It is also, to an extent, what makes sport interesting. Or, at least, what makes it newsworthy. But only to an extent.
Sport, really, should be about excellence and competitiveness: two traits which England seem currently to be lacking.
Why? The gruelling touring schedule. An obscene number of one day games. An unrelenting hunger for more and more cricket - not from the players, but from the consumers.
For sport, like any other commercial asset, is now an item of consumption. No wonder the players are jaded.
Kevin Pietersen went home a few days ago. Andy Flower, through diplomatic lips, vented his dissatisfaction at this (read Mike Atherton's piece in The Times).
But Pietersen probably just doesn't care that much. He's both over-worked and over-paid - a mind-boggling combination, for us mere mortals. But consider this: the press build you up as a star, you earn a fortune; you are dragged around the world to play in seemingly infinite and often meaningless games, and every stroke of your bat, and every word you utter, is under the most extreme scrutiny.
Wouldn't you ever feel like just walking away?
Of course that's wrong. Millions of honest Englanders would kill for KP's life. He should honour the badge. But, if you treat people like commodities, they will often start to behave accordingly.
If sport could go back, which it can't, perhaps we could see real men, real passion and real competition once more.
That won't happen, but there are compensations: the technical ability of players, driven by intensified training and higher prizes, is higher than ever before; the television coverage, driven by technology and consumerism, is more interactive and illuminating; the press coverage is, it pains me to admit, more interesting.
But the highlights of my cricketing spectatorship have been the Darren Goughs and the Freddie Flintoffs. The flawed everymans who give a shit. Though their bodies were broken by the intensity of consumer-sport's demanding schedules, their spirits were never quelled.
That's what sport should really be about but, sadly, it is now akin to mere old-fashioned sentimentalism. The Brave New World of sport often has too little time for such trifles.
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