England v Scotland: World Cup pressure firmly on Eoin Morgan's side
'These are nervous times for out-of-form English players...'
Thursday 21 April 2016 16:59, UK
England will face a high-pressure showdown with Scotland if they succumb to unbeaten New Zealand in Friday's World Cup clash in Wellington, says Mark Butcher.
Eoin Morgan's men, who lost to Australia by 111 runs in their opening Group A game, face another tough encounter when they take on the Black Caps, who overcame Scotland by three wickets on Tuesday to make it two wins from two games.
Opener Moeen Ali says England must up their skill level against the co-hosts and former batsman Butcher told Sky Sports World Cup that a second defeat would be tough to recover from.
"Having played so poorly against Australia in the first game, all be it that nobody expected England to turn Australia over at the MCG, you then go along and play one of the other favourites in the competition, New Zealand, and you are 0 & 2 if you lose that one," he said.
"Suddenly the Scotland game - something that you would walk through - ends up being something that you really have to concentrate hard on.
"At the moment, the way that some of the England players are going in terms of their form, you'd imagine that the nerves would be ramped up to very close to 100 per cent. So it's not going to be straightforward for them.
"I do think that New Zealand gave Scotland an enormous opportunity in terms of the way that they batted; I think that Brendon McCullum will be disappointed with the lack of professionalism in that run-chase, even if they were trying to get it done as quickly as possible to boost their net run-rate.
"But even so, to allow the opposition captain to stand there and say 'we ran them close' will be disappointing; they didn’t really - I think that’s pushing it a little bit too far. New Zealand allowed Scotland to feel as though they got close. The game was a very one-sided affair."
After taking on England, co-hosts New Zealand face Australia in Auckland on February 28 before ending their Group campaign with matches against Afghanistan and Bangladesh on March 7 and March 13 respectively.
Butcher says that the Black Caps, who play all of their games on home turf, will be out to prove a point on Friday.
"New Zealand will be looking forward to playing England; most teams - the 'former colonies', if you like - enjoy playing against England whenever, wherever.
"In a home World Cup and, given the sort of form they've been in over the last six to 12 months, New Zealand will be desperately looking forward to that England game.
Live Cricket World Cup 2015
"They will not be as profligate when it comes to their turn to win a game against England as they were against Scotland."
New Zealand took a firm grip against Scotland thanks to a devastating new ball burst from Trent Boult and Tim Southee that reduced Preston Mommsen’s side to 12-4.
Boult (2-21) found prodigious movement to trap Calum Macleod and Hamish Gardiner for golden ducks - but Butcher believes there's no reason why England's new-ball attack can't wreak similar havoc.
"Jimmy Anderson is the most effective bowler with the new white ball in the first 10 overs of the game," he said.
"He could very easily do to New Zealand what Trent Boult has just done to Scotland. Those deliveries could have got any batsman out.
"If you get the ball full enough and it's swinging, you have the chance of making in-roads in a match.
"You can lose a match in the first 10 overs by batting poorly, so England will look at New Zealand's performance and say 'these guys threw it away, let’s make them do it again'."
Watch England take on New Zealand from 12.30am this Friday morning on Sky Sports World Cup. Then don’t miss England against Scotland on Sunday. Our coverage begins at 9pm.
