Batters need to read situation better: Trescothick ahead of India clash

Lucknow, Oct 28 (PTI) England batters, who have failed miserably in the World Cup so far, need to read situations better as their team looks to bounce back from the brink, hinted assistant coach Marcus Trescothick on Saturday.

England’s all out approach with the bat has backfired in Indian conditions including at venues like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, where other teams have piled on the runs.

Ahead of the game against India, Trescothick was asked about the team’s batting tempo and frequent collapses in the tournament.

“We have an attitude to how we’ve gone about batting in the last however many years since our white-ball cricket has changed and evolved. And it’s always trying to be positive,” said the former England opener.

“We’re always looking to put pressure back on oppositions, bowlers, as much as we can while reading the situation and be smart in those situations. And we’ve done it occasionally. We’ve done it now and again.

“We just haven’t done it consistently with enough people really reading the situation, taking the right options, and then putting it all together to get that score,” he said.

England batting is full of match winners and firepower but is yet to fire in the mega event. Dawid Malan is the only hundred maker so far. So, is it a rhythm thing then?

“Confidence, rhythm, whatever you want to call it. The form of the the team hasn’t been as good as what we normally have. Normally there’s always one, maybe two people in that team who are going to get a hundred-plus or a big score that’s going to make a big difference,” said the assistant coach.

The batting failure has happened despite majority of the batters having tons of IPL experience.

“We’ve gained massive amounts of more experience in India because of the guys playing the volume of cricket they have done. I think you’re always learning; you’re always playing in different situations.

“That’s (playing on slower wickets) always a challenge for us. Every game that we want to play we want to play on the best wicket possible. If it’s not and it turns, then we’re okay with that and we’ve been good enough and we’ve been very smart at that in the last few years.

“I haven’t looked at the pitch out there (for Sunday’s game) so it might turn it might be slow but it’d be good preparation for some of the guys who are back here in January for the Test matches probably.”

Trescothick also asserted that his team remains fully committed to the 50-over format.

“Forgive me if I don’t want to be blunt here, but we haven’t lost faith in what it is. I can’t really say too much more. We love playing any form of cricket, any form of the game that we play.

“And we were desperate to come here and try and win back-to-back 50-over competitions. So, we’re still very much focused on all formats of the game,” he added.

Talking about the prospect of playing a World Cup match against India in their own backyard, Trescothick said it was the ideal platform to get back into the groove.

“Playing against India in a World Cup in their own country is that’s a special part of the game you know you get these opportunities that come around — you know there’ll be a big crowd, there’ll be a wonderful occasion.

“We’re looking forward to that chance. There’s nothing more that we can offer apart from going out and playing that performance. And then hopefully you come out on top at the end of it,” he said.

With England almost out of semifinal contention, Trescothick added he was not sure if the India game could be called a free hit.