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Brisbane (Queensland), Oct 31 (IANS) England assistant coach Paul Collingwood has conceded there is "frustration" in his side after their mouth-watering Super 12 fixture against Australia in the ICC T20 World Cup was washed out, adding the players have trained really hard over the last couple of days to keep their morale high for the clash against New Zealand here on Tuesday.
New Zealand are leading Group 1 with five points, with England bunched with Ireland and Australia on three points each. England had a great chance to lead the group but Ireland spoilt their party with a five-run shocker in a rain-truncated match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The loss was followed by the game against Australia being abandoned with the teams sharing points.
With England not getting the valuable match time ahead of their crucial match against the 2021 edition's runners-up New Zealand on Tuesday, Collingwood said certainly it was disappointing.
"Yeah, I think the frustration came from not being able to play in such a big fixture. You look at the fixtures before the World Cup and see that you're playing Australia at the MCG, and that's (a) mouth-watering fixture. So it was disappointing not to play that and not being able to get out.
"But the boys have trained fantastically well over the past couple of days. There's a lot of excitement around because we know if we get it right in the next four games (two Super 12 games and possibly the semifinal and the final) then we've got an opportunity to win a World Cup.
"It's almost into the knockout stages now in terms of how we've got to go about our cricket. It's must-win games, and this is why we play the game. This is the positions that you want to be in to have an opportunity to win a World Cup. Tomorrow hopefully kick-starts our momentum and if we can put in a good performance tomorrow, then it will give us a lot of confidence for the last three games," he added.
With the prediction of rain in Brisbane on Tuesday, Collingwood knows his side cannot afford another washout and he hoped both teams get to play their full quota of overs.
"Well, it would be nice to get the full 40 overs in tomorrow night, so keep our fingers crossed that we get the right conditions to be able to do that. In World Cups, you want to see sides competing against each other, the best sides competing against each other in an equal game. Hopefully, tomorrow night the rain stays away and we can manage to do that. Boys are very much looking forward to just getting to play some cricket and going to show their skills," said Collingwood.
--IANS
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