Paul Collingwood has labelled England's four-wicket defeat to South Africa 'A' as "a blip" they must try and forget.
T20 skipper says England should look instead at earlier victories
Paul Collingwood has labelled England's four-wicket defeat to South Africa 'A' as "a blip" they must try and forget.
The all-rounder, who captains his country in the Twenty20 format, said they must concentrate instead on what has otherwise been an impressive start to their tour.
Collingwood's first game as skipper in the team's final warm-up match in Bloemfontein was not a memorable one, with England's failure with the bat proving the catalyst for the loss.
Tuesday's defeat followed comprehensive 50-over victories over the Diamond Eagles and Warriors - both matches coming under the leadership of Andrew Strauss, who does not play the Twenty20 format.
However, his stand-in insists they will bounce back for the opening 20-over international against the hosts on Friday.
"I'm hoping tonight is just a blip," Collingwood said.
"We've done a lot of good stuff so far on this tour.
"Obviously Twenty20 cricket's a different format of the game - you're a bit more rushed out in the middle.
"But really, losing seven for 20, you're not going to win any games to be honest. So that's the area we've got to look at."
Judgement
Collingwood cited a lack of judgement as one of the key factors in the defeat.
He continued: "We probably didn't judge the wicket as well as we could have, with it turning so much.
"Maybe 120-130 would have been a good score on that wicket and we probably went a little bit too hard for a bigger score, but that's why you have these games."
Asked whether the victories over weakened teams in the opening two games had possibly given England false belief, he said: "I wouldn't say so. I think we played very, very well in the first two games. Tonight we didn't play as well.
"We'll obviously come out of this, we'll learn from it, we'll discuss it before Friday and hopefully put on a better performance."
One player who impressed was Graeme Swann, who opened the bowling and went on to claim two for nine in his four overs.
Swann gave the injury-hit tourists more cause for concern when he left the field with a thigh problem but Collingwood said it was not a major worry.
He added: "He's come off with a stiff side, but he's spoken to the medical staff and they don't seem to be too concerned. So we'll wait and see over the next couple of days."
