Andrew Strauss believes England needs to raise its game against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 - ICC World Cup 2011
The England captain, Andrew Strauss, believes that his team needs to get their act together before the next match against South Africa if they are to make the quarterfinals. The English skipper admitted that the next game will be huge for them as it will determine their fate in this World Cup. He said this in the wake of his team’s defeat at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 in what was probably one of the biggest upsets of all time.
"Generally we bounce back well from defeat in the past whether it`s in test cricket or one-day cricket and we are going to have to do that very quickly and probably be very honest with each other and realise where we can improve and make those improvements very quickly,” Strauss said.
The English team was considered among the favourites for this year’s crown before the start of the tournament but they have struggled in the first three matches mainly due to their bowling and fielding. The below par performances in the field have let them down as they have conceded more than 300 runs on two occasions now.
Strauss blamed his bowlers for not doing their job and leaking too many runs. He said that he realized that bowling on the flat wickets was not an easy job but that was still no excuse with way the bowlers have performed.
"What we don`t want to be doing is hemorrhaging both sides of the wickets and kind of chasing our tails too much which potentially we have done in the last three games," Strauss said.
The fielding by the English side has particularly been out of sorts and sloppy as they have now dropped quite a few catches in the first three games. Strauss said that he knew his team’s chances of qualifying for the second round are hanging by the thread and that there was hardly any room left for mistakes.
Strauss knows that against the top sides they will have to lift their game and give perfect performances because it is the only way they can move forward from here on in.
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