Bresnan offers robust defence of England’s desire to bounce back

Bresnan’s blunt turn of phrase may be a little rustic for some tastes, though the Yorkshireman’s sentiments will be welcomed by fans who have seen a well-drilled unit veer badly off track this winter.

Humiliation Down Under, with an Ashes whitewash and convincing defeats in both limited-overs series, has been followed by a World Twenty20 campaign that started with the 2010 winners as eighth favourites.

They have yet to win since touching down in Bangladesh, outclassed in both warm-up matches and then controversially undone by a combination of New Zealand, an unexpected thunderstorm and Duckworth/Lewis.

Bresnan does not shirk from the facts but offers a robust defence of England’s desire to turn the corner.

“It’s not as though we’re not trying... we’re busting our guts to get over the line, it’s just not really happening for us at the minute,” he said.

“Things haven’t gone our way over the last few months but we still believe we’re playing good cricket, turning out good performances. But stringing together everything at the same time is a problem for us.

“If we can find that spark and everything clicks, we can beat anyone in the world.

“We’re still working at the same rate, we’re still training hard, we’re still as fit as we can be. There are a lot of things that have happened that put a dent in things and impacted everything. Coupled with the fact that I believe we’ve been a little unlucky with a few results.”

Bresnan’s honest appraisal of the national side’s current predicament extended further than the their travels this winter.

At the time, England were unimpressed by suggestions that their 3-0 Ashes success on home soil last year was achieved despite some underwhelming performances.

But, 29-year-old Bresnan appeared to accept that the issues which have been brutally exposed in recent months may have taken root some time ago.

“They say winning hides a multitude of sins and it can do that in your own performance as well as the team’s,” he conceded.

“It’s only when you lose, that’s only when you analyse in-depth stuff that has actually gone wrong or stuff that might have been going wrong for a while.

“We won (the 2013 Ashes) but, as the media pointed out, we didn’t exactly win to the best of our ability. We were looking to go to Australia and play a lot better and we didn’t manage to do that and that’s why we lost the Ashes.”

Having lost their opening fixture, England need to win their remaining three matches to keep their semi-final hopes alive - a tough task with in-form World No 1s Sri Lanka next up on Thursday.

As such they can hardly afford to continue worrying about the controversy created by Stuart Broad’s post-match criticism of umpires Paul Reiffel and Aleem Dar, who kept the teams out even as lightning struck around the ZACS Stadium.

Broad was hit with a minor fine by the ICC on Sunday and, as far as England are concerned, the issue is closed.

“We want to put that all to bed now, draw a line under it and move forward,” said Bresnan.

“At the end of the day, it’s for the umpires to decide. We’ve got a lot of cricket to play in this tournament to get out of the group and eventually win it, if we can.

“We’re pretty confident we can win the next three. We just need to put in the performance and have everything click together.”

Craig Kieswetter, a member of the England side that won the 2010 World T20, joined the team in Chittagong yesterday, having been flown in as a replacement for the injured Luke Wright.

Kevin Pietersen, meanwhile, will have a point to prove with Surrey this summer after being unceremoniously dumped by England, believes his long-time mentor and the county’s new head coach.

The 33-year-old is England’s record run-scorer but was dumped after the Ashes whitewash, bringing his vaunted international career to a close.

The England and Wales Cricket Board have not disclosed the full reasons for the parting of ways, with rumours of dressing-room fallouts and distrust but Surrey expect only to benefit from Pietersen’s input.

Graham Ford, recruited by director of cricket Alec Stewart over the winter, has known Pietersen since he was a schoolboy in South Africa and expects a response.

“He’s a good enough player to prove a point in any format,” said Ford. “He’ll certainly entertain and it will be great for the fans to come down and have a look at him and see just how good he is.

“Unfortunately, he’s got to move on from international cricket. The news was surprising. I don’t really know what went on, but I have known Kevin for a long time and I’ve always found him to be a very positive individual and I’m sure he’s going to be extremely positive in our dressing room.”