We're all learning - Collingwood

29 June 2007

Paul Collingwood experiences his first toss as England captain alongside West Indies skipper Chris Gayle © Getty Images

New England one-day captain Paul Collingwood admitted his side’s 15-run defeat by West Indies in the NatWest Twenty20 opener at the Brit Oval was a “massive learning experience”.

Collingwood’s 79 off 41 balls proved in vain as England fell short of the Windies 208 for eight - the fourth highest score in international cricket in this format of the game.

Half-centuries from Devon Smith and Marlon Samuels laid the platform for the tourists with the England attack unable to stop the flow of runs.

England will have a chance to gain quickfire revenge on Friday when the two nations clash again at the same venue.

Collingwood said: “It was a good experience and I am sure a lot of the players will think the same.

“They might not think it at the moment but I am sure they will have learnt a lot tonight.

“You have to give the West Indies a lot of credit for the way they came out at us.

“So far on this trip they haven’t played the cricket they would like to but tonight they got in some great striking of the ball and it was very hard to bowl at them.

“They weren’t just hitting down the ground. They were using the pace on the ball as well.

“With the way (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul was putting it over fine leg, it was very hard to set fields to him.

“We wanted to be pretty aggressive, try to hit the bat hard and put them under pressure that way but they seemed to answer all the questions.

“The bowlers found there was little margin for error and sometimes you have to give the batting side some credit. I felt we showed a lot of fight to get anywhere near their score.

“It has been a massive learning experience - not just for the young lads bowling out there but myself as well.

“We will learn and hopefully come up with a better plan next time. When you get hit for 200, we are going to have a look and see the areas we did bowl and where we can improve.”

Collingwood did his best to lead England to an improbable victory © Getty Images

Collingwood came in at 69 for three and England quickly slumped to 101 for six before a partnership of 91 off 43 balls with Michael Yardy briefly revived hopes of England pulling off a shock win.

He said: “I only had one option. I think all of us only had one option.

“When you are needing 12-14 an over you’ve got to just choose your areas, know your areas that you can score in, and back yourself.

“It (being captain) didn’t prey on my mind. Whether I am captain or not, I can only play in one way and that was to go out and be positive.”

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle praised Dwayne Bravo for volunteering to bowl the final over despite suffering from an ankle injury.

He said: “We decided it was going to be myself or Bravo who was going to bowl the last over but in the end Dwayne came up and said he wanted it.

“How fit was Bravo? He said he couldn’t bowl and we didn’t want to risk him but because of the situation, and he’s a totally committed player, he wanted to bowl.

“He always wants to participate in the game and you have to give credit to him for doing that even though he’s injured.

“Will he get a ticking off from the physio? The physio came up to me and asked ’what was happening’ and I promised him he wasn’t going to bowl tomorrow!”

Gayle was delighted for the Windies to chalk up their first win against England on the tour after losing the npower Test series 3-0.

He added: “That’s what we wanted, a good start to the one-dayers.

“Now it’s up to us to capitalise on it and build on it going into tomorrow.

“Was it hard to pick the players up? We’ve had a lot of discussions and the guys were aware of the situation and pulled together.

“We decided we wanted to come out as a unit and once we do get it right we’re unbeatable.”