Morale booster for England with win over Scotland
With their form and confidence at a low ebb, England’s 119-run Cricket World Cup win over Scotland on Monday was something the squad could embrace and celebrate.
In the normal course of events an England cricket win over Scotland would not be a feat of great significance.
In its context on Monday, however, achieved with their form and confidence at a low ebb, England’s 119-run Cricket World Cup win over Scotland was something the squad could embrace and celebrate.
England entered the match after demoralising losses to Australia and New Zealand, desperate to avoid a third straight loss which might lead to an early exit from the tournament. They needed first to subdue a Scotland team which believed they could win, then required individual players out of form to find form for the team good.
It’s a matter of focusing exactly on what we do and trying to produce it as often or as consistently as possible
The performance England produced was convincing if not complete, good enough for captain Eoin Morgan.
“A lot of positives to take from today – we went three or four games when we didn’t perform as a side and today we put in a good performance,” Morgan said. “So if we can build on that and, like today, guys put in individual performance ... I’ll be happy.”
Morgan was not prepared to say England have turned a corner: their 111-run loss to Australia and eight-wicket loss to New Zealand are too fresh and too painful. Nor would he rate England against other teams in pool A after three of their six pool matches, taking small satisfaction from the improvement they showed on Monday.
“We’re not rating ourselves against other teams,” Morgan said. “It’s a matter of focusing exactly on what we do and trying to produce it as often or as consistently as possible.”