The loss against South Africa keeps England “grounded” as it shows that the team still has plenty to work on, according to pacer Mark Wood, who expects his team to bounce back in the semi-finals of the ongoing T20 World Cup.
England were on a four-match winning streak at the tournament before South Africa handed them a 10-run defeat in the final group game here on Saturday.
“A bittersweet ending for us. We achieved what we wanted to by winning the game but we obviously didn’t win it well enough. We gave it our all with the bat and we were largely good with the ball” – #Proteas captain Temba Bavuma#ENGvSA #T20WorldCup #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/VPVUWKa5ry
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) November 6, 2021
“It’s a shame we’ve lost the game, that brings us down to earth with a bit of a bump. It keeps us grounded and we know we’ve got some stuff to work on,” Wood told ‘Sky Sports’.
“You never want to lose. We’re not used to losing and usually when we do we bounce back well. I think it’s just a lesson that we’ve got plenty to work on,” he added.
Asked to bat, South Africa scored 181 for 2 on the back of some sensational hitting by Rassie van der Dussen (94 not out) and Aiden Markram (52 not out) before restricting England to 179 for 8 in 20 overs.
“South Africa played really well – they only lost two wickets and we’re not used to that – we’re used to getting wickets in the powerplay and controlling the game from there.”
“We were maybe off the pace, so we’ve got to work on things in training and be better next game. It’s nice to be back, but it’s better when you win.”
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It was Wood’s first match since he had picked an ankle injury in the warm-up game against New Zealand and the seamer was disappointed with his comeback performance.
“I had the ankle injected but it took longer than I thought. I hoped it might be just one or two games, but the lads were playing really well so there was no need to rush,” he said.
“The pain’s still there at times, but I felt I could still do my job – unfortunately it didn’t go as well as I’d want today. When you make yourself available to play you’ve got to deliver.
Wood’s four overs yielded 47 runs with South African batters hitting two fours and three sixes of his bowling.
“The thing that disappointed me was I didn’t get too many dot balls. I went for four and six off the first and last balls of the over, which is disappointing.
“I hadn’t played in a while but that’s not an excuse. I’ll be working on things in training.”
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