Collingwood calls for calm but accepts defeat was poor

Paul Collingwood wants England to rediscover their ruthless streak after slipping to a first defeat against Bangladesh but has cautioned against panic.

England's one-day squad looked to be scaling new heights when they won three successive matches against Australia to take the recent NatWest Series but hopes of a whitewash foundered after they lost the remaining two fixtures.

They returned to winning ways against the Tigers at Trent Bridge but were on the wrong end of a landmark five-run reverse in Bristol on Saturday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The three-match contest finishes at Edgbaston today and Collingwood wants England to reassert themselves in what has become an unlikely must-win clash.

"We need to get back to the same intensity as we had at the start of the Australia series," said the all-rounder. "That's when we were putting the opposition under the most pressure and that's when we played our best cricket.

"It's probably more the mental stuff than the technical and it's something we talked about in the Australia series after going

3-0 up. That was a position we hadn't really been in before against Australia and we really wanted to get a ruthless streak going.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Ruthlessness is a skill in itself and it's something we need to keep improving on."

He continued: "We know that we did not play to the standards we've set ourselves over the last year or so.

"We've set a benchmark in terms of how we want to play the game – our approach, our intensity – and that has helped us win a lot of series and games.

"Saturday we were only about 80 per cent of that potential."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Despite diagnosing a lack of intensity at Bristol, Collingwood does want an isolated result to be given undue importance. Instead, he feels the defeat should be put down to an off day rather anything more systematic.

"When you have a result like that you can look into things a bit too much and try to find things that are not really there.

"It's not about hitting the panic button or anything like that. Obviously we don't want to lose too many games and hopefully this is just a blip."

Collingwood was part of the first England touring side to visit Bangladesh in 2003 and has played in 14 of the 21 meetings between the sides.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He admits losing his – and his country's – perfect record was disappointing but is firmly focused on the next match.

"It was 20 games we'd played against them before they managed to beat us," he said. "It would have been nice to go all the way through my career beating Bangladesh, and for the team to do the same, but they are an improving side.

"The record is still that we were the final side to lose to Bangladesh and there's something positive in that.

"Thankfully we only have one day between the games and I think it's a good thing to get straight back out on the park and put in a big performance."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Charlotte Edwards struck 70 as England beat New Zealand by one wicket in a dramatic first one-day international at Taunton.

Opener Maria Fahey scored 61 for New Zealand, before being bowled by Katherine Brunt, as the White Ferns posted 231-8 in their 50 overs.

Sophie Devine added 50, including two sixes, while Yorkshire's Brunt took 3-31, enough to earn her the player-of-the-match award.

Chasing their target, only Edwards went on to get a big score, but was eighth out in the 48th over with eight still needed.

Brunt held her nerve to hit the winning runs.