http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749 off-spinner Graeme Swann still hopeful of winning the ICC World Cup 2011
The English cricket team is still hopeful to win the coveted trophy of the ongoing International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2011. After their shocking defeat at the hands of minnows http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751, the English have to win at least two of their last three group
matches to go ahead to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Their task doesn’t get any easier as the Poms will now play one of the toughest teams in the tournament, South Africa, on March 6, 2011, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The English spinner Graeme Swann praised Kevin O'Brien's innings of 113, which helped Ireland beat England by 3 wickets in a record run chase of 327 runs, on Wednesday. Swann knows O’Brien since their days at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nottinghamshire-c826 County.
According to Swann, the young Irish batsman has improved a lot since then. “I knew him from Notts and I knew he could be a destructive player-perhaps not that destructive.”
Swann stated that he was aware of the team’s poor performance in the match with Ireland, but their outstanding performance against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 should not be ignored either, as the English team proved they could unsettle the World Cup favorites, at their home ground.
“After the game against India, obviously the world took notice and thought: 'Wow, they're better than we thought they were' - after no one gave us a hope,” said the off-spinner.
However, the player accepted the fact that after their defeat against Ireland, the momentum and confidence level of the team was shattered. The English spinner said that they were all looking forward to win the World Cup, and wished to put all their hard
work and effort in the remaining 3 group-stage matches, out of which they have to win at least two.
Swann reiterated that his team-mates needed to improve their bowling and fielding if they wanted to defend their totals. He said, “First and foremost we need to up our fielding - we keep saying before the games that we know we are a good fielding side and
let's go out and prove it.”
Leaving the defeat behind them, it is important for England to come out a stronger team after their forgettable performance against Ireland. The team would be hoping to learn from their mistakes and work on them ahead of their next match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757,
on Sunday, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 6, 2011.
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