PAUL COLLINGWOOD: ENGLAND WAS SOLID BUT WE ALSO DID WELL
Scotland will regroup and make sure we give it a huge go against Afghanistan, says Collingwood, part of Scotland's coaching staff
Whenever you lose cricket matches, there is huge disappointment but I know the Scotland guys can bounce back from the defeat to England. In Christchurch, England played a really solid game.
Winning the toss gave us the opportunity to try to get some nerves going in their camp after their start to the tournament. We could have bowled better up front but then again you’ve got inexperienced bowlers playing against high-quality batsmen and Moeen Ali played a good impressive innings that he timed well. He put the bad balls away and probably dampened the nerves from England’s point of view.
That first-wicket partnership with Ian Bell was crucial for England. I’m sure they had a few nerves going into the match and, from past experience, it’s never easy playing against Associate nations. You know it’s a potential banana skin and they were facing a Scotland side that was feeling pretty confident.
We knew we had to start the game really well and, whether we were batting or bowling, we wanted partnerships to put England under pressure and try to get them feeling those nerves. But the partnership that Belly and Mo Ali put on was exactly what the doctor ordered from their point of view.
We fought back well throughout that innings because at one point I thought they were going to get 350 plus.
Winning the toss gave us the opportunity to try to get some nerves going in their camp after their start to the tournament. We could have bowled better up front but then again you’ve got inexperienced bowlers playing against high-quality batsmen and Moeen Ali played a good impressive innings that he timed well. He put the bad balls away and probably dampened the nerves from England’s point of view.
That first-wicket partnership with Ian Bell was crucial for England. I’m sure they had a few nerves going into the match and, from past experience, it’s never easy playing against Associate nations. You know it’s a potential banana skin and they were facing a Scotland side that was feeling pretty confident.
We knew we had to start the game really well and, whether we were batting or bowling, we wanted partnerships to put England under pressure and try to get them feeling those nerves. But the partnership that Belly and Mo Ali put on was exactly what the doctor ordered from their point of view.
We fought back well throughout that innings because at one point I thought they were going to get 350 plus.
They bowled with discipline and Steven Finn was very solid, bowling a good spell of straight, hard, fast bowling and it was hard to get the boundaries away. The spinners were rushing through their overs and if you’re getting further and further behind the run-rate, you’re going to have to take risks and we couldn’t quite find the boundaries.
It was a really solid display from England and they needed that kind of day to get things back on track and try to take a bit of the heat off their shoulders.
From our point of view, to win games of cricket in an ICC Cricket World Cup you’ve got to have the majority of your players having their best day and unfortunately there just weren’t enough right on top of their game.
But it’s all a learning curve for us. A lot of this is new to the players. The emotions of these occasions, holding your nerve, all that kind of stuff is new so hopefully game by game we’ll get better and better.
The boys are still buzzing and still enjoying it and, of course, you’re disappointed to lose. We’re not here just to enjoy the World Cup, we’re here to win games and we’ll keep battling and keep trying to play the positive cricket we know we can and hopefully that will bring us a win but on this occasion England started off really well and were too good for us right the way through the match.
Our next game is on Thursday so we’ve got a quick turnaround but it’s an important game for us. We have strong characters, they’ll be hurting but we’ll regroup and make sure we give it a huge go against Afghanistan.
England are still going to have to play good cricket. They know the obstacles in their way. They didn’t play their best game against Scotland but it was still good enough. Just like us, they need the majority of their players on top of their game to progress through. They’re not over the hurdle as yet but after this win they will be going back to their hotel very happy with the job they have done.
Facing England was everything I expected but it was tough when I heard the anthems before the match. When you’re working for one side and you’re desperate to do well and have had so many years playing for your country, it was hard during the anthems but that is part and parcel of professionalism and you have to be focused on trying to do the job in hand.