“I could not be more positive about what we did in the last three and a half weeks,” says the interim coach. Interim coach Paul Collingwood said that despite England’s defeat to the West Indies, he believed the team was making progress and “could not be more positive in what we have done in the last three and a half weeks”. Speaking the day after England’s 10-wicket loss to Grenada, Collingwood confirmed that he had “put his hat in the ring” to take on the role of full-time manager and reiterated that captain Joe Root had the full support of the team. . . “Sometimes I’m surprised that he is being questioned about how he feels in the dressing room,” Collingwood said. England’s defeat in the Caribbean meant it was the fifth consecutive winless streak for the team, which now has just one win in its last 17 Tests. It also extended their unbeaten run in the West Indies to 18 years and continues. The defeat in Grenada was a disappointing end to a tour in which England dominated for the most part, with the West Indies holding the draw on the fifth day in both Antigua and Barbados. “In order not to get results from them [games] “It was frustrating,” Collingwood said. “The series could be completely different. I always felt we were one or two wickets away from breaking the West Indies in those first two games. But we could not do it and entering the last game, our level of performance was not at the level of the first two games. “I could not be more positive about what we have been doing in the last three and a half weeks in the West Indies. how open they were, and where they were as individuals, as a team and how we would move forward, it has always been a challenge to leave this group a better place than when I first got it, and I personally feel it is much stronger now than when I first started the team. “Everyone saw the results in the park, of course we did not win in Antigua or Barbados, but you could see that the way the children played there was a real determination to win these games, whether it was the statements or the way we put the sets, the kids go out there and produce very good cricket. “If they continue to play like that, they will turn the corner and win cricket games very quickly.” “I see it because we do not win cricket games,” Collingwood said of growing calls to replace Root. “When you have a record like this, I can tell where the noise is coming from. [But] you need to understand how you feel in the dressing room and how strong a leader he is. It has full support. Full support from all players and management as well. We feel that he is still our No. 1 for this team to move forward. “Sometimes I am surprised that he is being questioned because of how he feels in the dressing room,” he added. “This is the first time I have experienced him as a first coach and I have worked with him. You can see the passion, the momentum. There is a real hunger to do it right. These are not just words coming out of his mouth. He is desperate to restores the team to cricket victories. Ben Stokes puts his hand on Joe Ruth after England’s defeat at Getty Images “I can say nothing but positive about what he did in terms of leadership in the locker room, trying to move this team forward. He was incredible in this Test series to work with him and see how he goes about his business, and I can to give the responsibility to the other players “. Collingwood reiterated that England had no regrets about the team they selected for the tour, arguing that they left out both James Anderson and Stuart Broad for the trip. Including an away tour of India last year and a home tour of New Zealand, it’s the third in 12 months where England chose to rest and switch players and did not go with a full-strength team and Collingwood agreed it was time to take a short-term approach to options, with an emphasis on winning the next race rather than the next. “On this trip we selected kids who were on the team,” he said. “We chose for what our conditions have been cut. We also had a lot of injuries, some of our top players, but we were here to win the series with the team we have. pushed with two injuries to Woody [Mark Wood] and things like that. But I always felt we had a team good enough to win. But moving on, the new coach is coming, I’m sure he will want the best possible team. However, he stressed, England “should be very careful” with the workload of the players, citing the experience of Ben Stokes, who lost a significant part of last year after taking a break for mental health reasons. Stokes then suffered a sideways injury during the Ashes and was expected to return to bowling in the Caribbean, only to end up having more over than any other English athlete. “We play Covid catch-up. Ben was a prime example – he put his body on the line in this series because he wants to win cricket games. The players keep doing this and they will break, they will break physically. So we have to be a little bit careful. to say we get the best team in the park every time, because this list of games is horrible. “ Cameron Ponsonby is a freelance cricket writer in London. @cameronponsonby
