England batsmen’s approach was conservative

Three Lions not even playing to half of their potential, says former skipper.

PAUL COLLINGWOOD:

I can’t remember seeing such a one-sided game as England’s eight-wicket defeat to New Zealand. There have been plenty of occasions where we have been pummelled in the past, but I’ve never seen a game like it in an ICC Cricket World Cup.

Being an England fan, it was horrible viewing and I really do feel for the players. It just proved the gulf between the two sides and you are not talking about a major difference in the skill levels, it’s just about approaches and tactics.

Tim Southee was world-class. He swung the ball late and, coupled with his accuracy, that caused problems. The approach of England’s batsmen was pretty conservative, almost like a Test match.

Brendon McCullum was not worried about the ball swinging, he was trying to stop it swinging as quickly as possible and putting the ball into the stands twice is the way to do it.

Southee is a world-class bowler going about his business and making good international players look amateurish at times.

McCullum did exactly the same. He is one of the world’s best strikers of a cricket ball and there was no way he was going to be sedate. It was just pure entertainment to get it away from England from the first ball.

The bowlers knew they had to try to get him out but the game had gone after a couple of overs of his striking, it was that brutal.

I really do feel for Eoin Morgan. He has taken over the captaincy right at the last minute and he is carrying the can for a lot of the work that’s gone on over the past year. I think he can be a Brendon McCullum in the future in the way he’ll want the team to move forward and get the right players into the right positions. McCullum has been in charge of this team for nearly two years now and he has put his stamp on them and they have grown under his leadership and he’s getting the best out of his players.

It has been a bit of a baptism of fire in the first two games and sometimes you have got to keep things in perspective because they have come up against probably the two in-form teams of the competition.

But New Zealand look as though they can win the World Cup and so do Australia, while England do not look as if they will get out of the group at this stage. That is the harsh reality.

You can make a change here and there but it is almost as if the damage has been done. England have got their most powerful batting line-up ever if we pick players like Ravi Bopara in the middle-order and Alex Hales up the top.

County cricket is producing some very good attacking players like Jason Roy at Surrey. The one-day game is going that way and it is almost like we do not want to take risks.

Two years ago, England and New Zealand were probably on a par but now the gap is so much because they have taken an aggressive approach and built confidence and momentum by making that a success.

England need their strong characters to stand up and get everyone together now.

Scotland may win against England

With my Scotland hat on, the guys have always been excited about Monday’s fixture anyway and it does not make any difference to us because we will be concentrating on how we go about it and our strengths.

There is real confidence and belief we can get a win. It is genuine because the guys are getting closer and closer against international opposition.

We fought all the way to the end against New Zealand and it was only a three-wicket margin and we should have won against the West Indies the week before, so we are getting there.

Of course, it will be an emotionally strange day for me, having been involved in England for so long and playing with a lot of the players in the side, but I’m a hundred per cent behind trying to get Scotland to get this win.

That is going to be an amazing feeling if we can get that first-ever World Cup win under our belt, there is no better time than against England. That would mean so much to Scottish cricket.

We will cause problems because we know we have the skill levels and the approach and our first win is just around the corner. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st,  2015.

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