England vs West Indies: Paul Collingwood sees similarities with former glory

Paul Collingwood was captain when England won their only ever global event, the 2010 World Twenty20. Now an England coaching consultant, he spies similarities between the squad then and Eoin Morgan’s side today.

“I do see parallels. We both lost against the West Indies early on, and seem to be building momentum. As long as we stay focused and keep backing ourselves, we’re going to put the opposition under pressure,” he said. “You want to peak at the right time. We haven’t been perfect throughout this tournament but with our batting line-up, we can win any game. That gave us confidence knocking off 230 versus South Africa.”

One resemblance Collingwood sees is in the attitude of the openers. Jason Roy and Alex Hales have a license to thrill just as Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb did in 2010, as Roy showed in his 44-ball 78 against New Zealand.

“It takes a lot of guts to bat like that,” Collingwood said. “In the past, if we had a 150 total to chase down, we’d talk about keeping wickets in hand and all that kind of stuff. That’s a very conservative approach. These guys don’t think that way. They want to put their opponents under pressure as early as possible and that’s the best way to look at it.”

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of England’s run to the final has been the sense that it has come ahead of schedule. It is only a year since England’s ignominious exit in the group stages of the World Cup, and, at 29, Morgan is the oldest member of the side and only member to have played in the Indian Premier League.

“A lot of these guys have never been to India, let alone played in these conditions. But they don’t seem to be too afraid of it,” Collingwood said, crediting Paul Farbrace and Trevor Bayliss with building an uninhibited set-up. “They haven’t got a ceiling. They haven’t got any restrictions. They don’t have that kind of approach. If you do have a couple of bad games, you’re not going to get automatically cut. To have that kind of security and also the full backing from the hierarchy is so important to move the team forward.” Roy is the perfect case in point: before his innings against New Zealand he only averaged 17.41 in T20I cricket, but has never fretted about his place.

Besides both teams beginning their campaigns by losing to the West Indies, there is one other striking parallel between the England T20 teams of 2010 and 2016: both had captains who struggled for runs. Here Morgan can derive inspiration from Collingwood, who overcame a woeful run to hit the tournament-clinching runs six years ago. How Morgan would love to do the same on Sunday in Eden Gardens.