Skip to content

Scotland can beat England in World Cup, says Paul Collingwood

Paul Collingwood training with Durham
Image: Paul Collingwood: Hoping for a shock win for Scotland

Scotland assistant coach Paul Collingwood believes his team are capable of inflicting more World Cup pain on England.

After heavy back-to-back defeats to Australia and New Zealand, England will look to get their campaign back on track when they play the Scots in Christchurch on Monday.

But Collingwood believes Scotland, who have never won a World Cup match, can beat a badly under-performing England team.

Scotland have already shown they are no pushovers after running New Zealand far closer than England managed in their World Cup opener, while they fell just short of beating West Indies in their final warm-up match.

"There's real confidence and belief we can get a win. It's genuine because the guys are getting closer and closer against international opposition," Collingwood told the ICC's website.

"We fought all the way to the end against New Zealand and it was only a three-wicket margin and we should have won against the West Indies the week before, so we're getting there.

There's real confidence and belief we can get a win. It's genuine because the guys are getting closer and closer against international opposition.
Paul Collingwood

"That's going to be an amazing feeling if we can get that first-ever World Cup win under our belt, there's no better time than against England. That would mean so much to Scottish cricket.

More from Cricket World Cup 2015

"We'll cause problems because we know we have the skill levels and the approach and our first win is just around the corner.

"Hopefully the guys will be singing 'Flower of Scotland' in the dressing room come Monday."

Pressure mounting

Collingwood has been critical of England at this World Cup and earlier this week suggested the pressure was mounting on coach Peter Moores to keep his job.

England can hardly afford any more slip-ups in their remaining four pool-stage games if they are to reach the quarter-finals, although Collingwood suspects Moores' hopes of reaching the knockout stages might already be over.

"You can make a change here and there but it's almost as if the damage has been done," he said.

"Two years ago England and New Zealand were probably on a par but now the gap is so much because they've taken an aggressive approach and built confidence and momentum by making that a success."

Collingwood, who captained England to their only major global tournament success at the 2010 World Twenty20, thinks England's selection has been wrong so far, highlighted by a lack of power in the batting.

Live Cricket World Cup 2015

"England has got the most powerful batting line-up we've ever had if we pick players like Ravi Bopara in the middle-order and Alex Hales up the top," said the 38-year-old.

"County cricket is producing some very good attacking players like Jason Roy at Surrey. The one-day game is going that way and it's almost like we don't want to take risks."

Sympathy

He also feels some sympathy for Eoin Morgan, who has struggled for form in his first tour as the full-time one-day captain after he replaced Alastair Cook just before Christmas.

"I really do feel for Eoin Morgan," Collingwood said.

"He's taken over the captaincy right at the last minute and he's carrying the can for a lot of the work that's gone on over the past year.

"I think he can be a Brendon McCullum in the future in the way he'll want the team to move forward and get the right players into the right positions.

"McCullum has been in charge of (New Zealand) for nearly two years now and he's put his stamp on them and they've grown under his leadership and he's getting the best out of his players."

Watch England v Scotland live on Sky Sports World Cup from 9pm on Sunday.