The obvious purpose of cricket is its entertainment value. The fours, sixes, and even the drop catches are all a spectacle for the viewers. Pride and honour on one side, but there's the all-important entertainment on the other side that people come for, especially in the 20 over format. A three-hour blockbuster, as designed, a complete package.
England skipper Stuart Broad was no less disappointed with his team being knocked out of the world tournament, but appreciated the fact that both teams - South Africa and England - did exceptionally well to serve the basic purpose of T20 cricket - entertainment.
"We can hold our heads high," Broad said after two losses in three. "At the end of the day, T20 is an entertainment business and I don't think anybody is going to leave the ground today disappointed with nearly 400 runs scored ... sixes ... fours ... catches."
"We've had a lot of positives come out of this World Cup, but we can hold our heads high with some of the performances we've put in. If we had got out of the group there would have been a lot of surprised people. We're disappointed, but we've done some good stuff with the squad available to us."
England have one last game left on Monday against Netherlands before they head back home. They've had a long season so far, losing the Ashes in Australia and a not-so-impressive West Indies tour. There have also been many controversies and injuries the team has played with. Come next season, England will have a new coach and Broad hopes for better days in the emerging 'new era of English cricket'.
"It's going to be a new era of English cricket isn't it?" Broad said. "It has been a tough winter. We've been away a huge amount of time, so there are some fantastic opportunities available for players in the summer. We don't know the shake-up of the Test side, but you know the opportunities will arise and that's exciting for players to be involved in. I expect to see some excellent performances this summer, guys really desperate to play, hungry to succeed for England and we'll have to play some good cricket to beat Sri Lanka and India.
"It's an exciting time to be part of English cricket. Change is exciting from time to time. It's been a really tough winter, we've not had a huge amount of success. Australia was a really tough tour, back-to-back Ashes over the past nine months is as tough as it gets for a cricketer, not just on the field, but off it too with all the hype that comes with Ashes cricket. So it has been a draining winter and I'll have to be honest, I'm looking forward to a bit of a break come Tuesday."
Asked if he'd continue his stint as the T20 captain after having taken over duty in 2011, Broad left the decision to the ECB.
"I don't know, there's going to be a decision made on coaching staff, so there might be a few changes in the next two months or so. I'm probably going to be unavailable for the start of the season in one-day cricket to sort my knee out."
