Warwickshire all-rounder Chris Woakes admits the hurt of defeat will only inspire England as they look to return to winning ways at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
The world No.1 side produced an uncharacteristically poor fielding performance as they lost by 14 runs to Pakistan – a team without a win in 11 ODI matches – at Trent Bridge.
Woakes was the only stand-out in the field, taking four catches, equalling the tournament record for an outfielder, including a spectacular sprawling effort to dismiss Iman-ul-Haq.
We aren’t putting any extra pressure on ourselves, we’ll just be looking to still playing our best cricket in every game.
cite=”Chris Woakes
But he insists no-one is hitting the panic button ahead of Saturday’s clash with an experienced Bangladesh team, who beat South Africa in their first fixture.
“It’s a long tournament, we are going to have ups and downs, it’s about how you bounce back,” he said.
“We aren’t putting any extra pressure on ourselves, we’ll just be looking to still playing our best cricket in every game.
“We’re confident but I think the beauty of this World Cup is that anyone can beat anyone on their day, as we’ve seen with Pakistan.
“Whenever you lose a game for England it hurts, you’re constantly trying to put in strong performances for your country. We will try and put that right against Bangladesh.
“To be honest you probably want to lose one earlier rather than later in the fashion that we have. You don’t want to produce a performance like we did against Pakistan in a more high-pressure game – maybe a must-win or something.
“The good thing about this group is that when we’ve had a bad performance or lost a game of cricket, we bounce back very well, so hopefully we can do that.”
There were positives from England from their opening defeat. Joe Root and Jos Buttler scored the first centuries of the tournament and the hosts got within just 14 runs of completing the biggest run chase in ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup history.
But from the very first over there were mis-fields and overthrows and one very expensive dropped catch – Jason Roy, usually the safest hands on the team, shelling a regulation effort and then seeing Mohammad Hafeez go from 14 to 84.
“A few days ago, against South Africa, we put in an unbelievable fielding performance. We know that’s our standard, so whenever you drop below that, you’re always going to be a little bit disappointed,” added Woakes. “I don’t think it was a car crash by any means, we just left a few out there.
“Fielding creates momentum for a team – if you’re fielding well, constantly taking diving stops, stopping those twos and putting the position batsman under pressure then it makes a difference.
“We will get back on the practice field, put in a hard shift and try and practice some of the things you didn’t get quite right.”
England captain Eoin Morgan dropped Liam Plunkett from his seam attack at Trent Bridge, Woakes partnering with Jofra Archer and the recalled Mark Wood.
Woakes took three wickets in addition to his four catches but knows Morgan will continue to manage his bowler’s workload in a demanding schedule of matches.
“I thought I came back pretty well to pick up three wickets at the end and I thought my final spell was actually pretty good,” he added. “I still could’ve bowled better, no doubt about that.”
