Gros Islet: Former captain Nasser Hussain believes defending champions England need to address issues in adapting to playing on slower pitches after losing to South Africa by seven runs in their second Super Eight stage game of the T20 World Cup.
“No batter likes it when the ball stops in the pitch a bit, but my one concern about England is that their players really like facing balls with pace on as we saw against West Indies earlier in the week.”
“This was not a minefield, just a slower pitch and if you look at where England have played their best cricket in this tournament, it has been Antigua when there was pace and bounce and here in St Lucia when there was pace and bounce against the West Indies.”
“If Jos Buttler’s team defeats the United States on Sunday to get into the semifinals, they could end up facing India in Guyana, for example, and they will need to address how to play on the kind of surface they were dealt here.”
“Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone showed they can cope with coming in during the middle overs and put the foot down straightaway, but despite England playing good cricket, they failed to get over the line,” wrote Hussain in his column for Daily Mail. IANS
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