Prolonged Christmas break affected England’s performance – Collingwood – Cricket News Update
Former England captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013’s recent poor performances against Pakistan at UAE.
England demolished India on their home soil last year, which consequently lead them to the summit of Test cricket. However, they suffered a humiliating 5-0 loss away to the same opponent in an ODI series in October 2011.
That was followed by a lengthy break for the no.1 ranked team before they resumed competitive cricket in January against the Men in Green. They displayed another poor performance during the Test leg, suffering an embarrassing 3-0 whitewash. However, the
Poms are still perched, albeit precariously, at the top of the International Cricket Council’s Test team rankings.
"The defeats came out of the blue in many ways and in trying to see, from the outside, what they have done differently, the only thing I can think of is that it was probably the team's longest ever break heading into the series," Collingwood said.
Collingwood pointed out that the team barely ever spent Christmas back at home, and were usually given 3 to 4 weeks off at the end of every summer. However, the break at the end of last year was extraordinarily long.
"But this time there was a three-month break which meant they went into the series a bit cold. Especially in the first test, which did the damage because they didn't play spin very well, which meant their confidence levels were down and they never recovered,"
he elaborated.
Collingwood is convinced that the team can bounce back during the remaining matches of the tour, and turn the situation around in their favour. The tourists are due to begin a 4-match ODI series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, followed by three T20s.
In relation to his own career, Collingwood was confident about a comeback to limited-overs cricket.
After a poor performance in the World Cup, the all-rounder (who retired from Test cricket after the final Ashes Test last year) was dropped from the squad. Ever since then, he has been busy with the domestic cricket circuit (including performing in the inaugural
KFC Big Bash), but has not ruled out a return to playing limited-overs matches for England, despite the fact that he is 35-years old. He is convinced that he can rejoin the national squad if he plays consistently well for a couple of months.
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