Doug Bollinger hopeful to finish NatWest Series 3-2
The Ashes rivals, Australia and England, are busy confronting each other in NatWest Series in England. Since 1987, England for the first time has left Australia behind in all formats of world cricket - including the Ashes, the T20 international and now the One Day Internationals as well.
Doug Bollinger, Australia’s left-arm fast bowler has admitted that it would be "disastrous" to give up an ODI series whitewash to the English rivals. He was quite confident that the Kangaroos can get back some conceit in the final two games after their late rush forward at Old Trafford on Sunday where they have nearly worked out a stunning comeback.
A dramatic late collapse, where six of the English wickets fell for 18 runs in 38 balls, turned the situation at one stage. The easy chase turned out to be a nail-biting conclusion before Tim Bresnan smacked James Hopes with a winning boundary, giving the hosts an impregnable 3-0 lead in the five match series. Bollinger was also a major factor in the late dismissals as he sacked Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad with reverse swings in his final over, while the leg spinner Steven Smith and the recalled speedster Shaun Tait also made Strauss’ men sweat.
"It was good to drag them back a bit in those last 10 overs and that means everything is starting to come together," said Bollinger. He further added that he is Hopeful that the Kangaroos can build on that. Talking about his team’s performance over the last few years, he said that they have been quite successful and a couple of defeats probably are not that bad, although nobody likes to lose.
However, the World Champions for a large part of the game had been a distant second favourite. The opening stand of 75 runs between Tim Paine and Shane Watson had left the Australians in the strange position of having to save face at the nest two games of The Oval and Lord's this week.
The all rounder Bollinger said that his team would love to break the winning tempo of hosts as 5-0 would be destructive. He said that they would step Oval and Lord’s with a winning approach and would do everything appropriately to get the last two ODIs. He further added that 3-2 would also be disappointing but 5-0 would be the worse. He was hopeful that the World Champions would manage to win the next two matches.
"It isn't the start we wanted being 3-0 down but there isn't much we can do. Everyone went out and played their guts off and sometimes it just doesn't work out. We can't whinge about it, we just have to try and finish well in these two one-dayers before the T20s and Tests against Pakistan".
The left arm batsman, though, agreed that England side has made huge efforts to improve its one-day game since the 6-1 defeat by mighty Aussies last year. Bollinger said that England team will be a dangerous side to contest after the confidence they have gained from the fresh limited-overs successes including the NatWest Series and the T20 World Champ title.
"They've come on massively, especially with winning the T20 they are sky high at the moment," he said.
Bollinger said that all the English players have got their game collectively and the Australians would have to lift their efficiency 10-15 percent to reach them and they have the capability of doing so. “Nobody likes a winning team unless it's your own but we'll be alright" said the Australian all rounder.
Despite his team’s problems in the NatWest series against England, Bollinger has sustained his notable form of the past nine months which has made him Australia’s premier strike bowler.
Tags: