PAUL COLLINGWOOD: Battering will hit England’s confidence
It comes down to tactics and you’ve got to try something else because whatever they’re trying now just isn’t working.
They’ve got the best bowlers there and everyone will turn around and talk about execution but it’s whether they can do something different tactically to stop the opposition scoring so heavily.
When you’re going in chasing a total like 342 it leaves you having to take risks.
And when you’re facing guys like Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson you probably want to take those risks with the other bowlers, which is why Mitchell Marsh has taken so many wickets.
If you’re chasing over 300 against Australia the game’s gone from you. That’s the first thing you’ve got to get in line, to try to keep the runs down to 270 or 280 and then you might have a chance but once you get over 300 something really, really special has got to happen for you.
You can take James Taylor’s 98 as a positive. He’s street-wise and it doesn’t matter how you look, it’s how you score the runs. He’s a player that loves that kind of situation and he knows how to score runs.
Eoin Morgan is going through a lean spell but he’s a modern-day cricketer, a modern-day batsman and thinker and he’s the future. He’s been given the role at the last minute and everybody expects something special from him.
It’s very hard as a captain and leader to change things as late as it’s been given to him and I’ve got a lot of sympathy for what he’s going through.
In terms of the selection, they weren’t using Ravi Bopara that much with the ball and he wasn’t scoring many runs so it wasn’t surprising but it’s just another indication that they’re hunting for their best XI which is a little bit of a shame at this stage.
New Zealand are another seriously strong side with different strengths. Along with Australia, they’re playing the bravest cricket and they’re not even thinking about it.
From the outside it looks as though they’re not worrying about consequences, they’re just enjoying the occasion and putting teams under pressure and they’re dangerous when they do that.
In front of 90,000 at the MCG England’s players have taken a bit of a battering and confidence will undoubtedly have been hit.
People back in England will think it’s over but it’s not all doom in gloom.
They’re still in the competition and they can move on and readdress and next time they come against Australia, which they’ll have to if they get to the semi-finals, you never know what can happen.
They can still get there.
2015 © ICC Development (International) Limited
