Pallekele, February 21 – England captain Harry Brook has admitted that the team underestimated some of the opposition teams in the group stage and has promised to perform well in the Super 8s round, where they will play their first match against co-hosts Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Stadium on Sunday.
England's campaign so far in the tournament has been far from convincing, as they narrowly escaped defeat in their first match against Nepal by just four runs. Brook's side also suffered a heavy defeat against the two-time champions, West Indies, in the next match.
However, they won the remaining two matches against Italy and Scotland to reach the Super 8s.
"It was obviously a challenging start to the competition. We probably underestimated a few of the teams, and they put up a really good fight, and yeah, we came here to get through that stage, and thankfully we have, so we're here in the Super Eights, and that's our main focus now," Brook said in a pre-match conference.
Brook also revealed the team's plan to get Sri Lanka's opener, Pathum Nissanka, who is in good form, out early. Nissanka scored a century against Australia and could be a big threat to England in their upcoming match.
"Some of their batters are batting really well, so hopefully we can get a few wickets in the power play. And Nissanka is in good form at the moment, so it would be ideal if we could get him out early," he said.
The 27-year-old also criticised the cautious approach of the batters in the tournament and asked them to attack from the start and put the opposition under pressure.
"I want us to go all out in the 20 overs and really take the opposition by surprise with the bat, and look to put them under pressure. So, there's not really much change there," he said.
"With no carrying over of points or anything like that into the Super Eights, it's a completely fresh start, and we can see it like that as well. I feel like we can probably be a bit bolder in certain situations," Brook added.
England have a good record against Sri Lanka in T20Is. Brook's side has won 13 out of 17 matches played between the two sides.
