Friday, June 12, 2009

Eng vow to fight back

ICC World Twenty20


England captain Paul Collingwood promised home fans his team will bounce back in the World Twenty20 after being handed a cricketing lesson by South Africa.

The Proteas bowled with fire to inflict a morale-sapping defeat on the hosts by seven wickets in their first Super Eights match at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

England were shot out for 111 after electing to take first strike on good batting wicket, a target the South Africans took their time to achieve with 10 balls to spare.

"You will only defend a total like that one in 10 times," said Collingwood. "We did not get off to a great start and never really got a partnership going to get us up to a total we could defend.

"The wicket was playing well and you would need everything going in your favour to defend that total.

"We were beaten by a side who set an example in the field, there were diving catches and they put pressure on the batsmen."

England have endured a mixed campaign so far, shocked by the Netherlands before pulling together to enter the second round with an emphatic win over Pakistan.

England must now win both their remaining games against defending champions India at Lord's on Sunday and the West Indies at the Oval on Monday to ensure their place in the semifinals.

Collingwood admitted it was not the ideal start to the Super Eights, but was confident the hosts will fight back to make a mark in the tournament.

"It has been a roller-coaster ride so far," he said. "We need to go out there against India and get our confidence going.

"We are in a tough group but we believe we have the guys who can win in this competition.

"We will try to get the belief going again over the next couple of days."

A sell-out crowd of 18,000 at Trent Bridge were stunned as English wickets fell like nine pins with young left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell finishing with three for 14.

Owais Shah was the lone Englishman to withstand the Proteas' onslaught with 38 off 33 balls after four of the top seven batsmen managed only four runs between them.

All the six bowlers used by Smith were among the wickets, with Kallis and Roelof van der Merwe supporting Parnell with two scalps each.

England crashed to 25-3 by the sixth over in an inspired display by the South Africans in the field.

Albie Morkel bowled the first maiden over of the tournament that also included the wicket of Kevin Pietersen, but was not called upon to bowl a second over as the others took care of the England batsmen.

The only consolation for England was that their bowlers kept the South African batsmen at the crease till the 19th over before man of the match Jacques Kallis saw the Proteas home with 57 not out.

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