Sydney, Feb 17 (IANS) England batsman Moeen Ali Tuesday said their resounding defeat against Australia in the World Cup opener Feb 14 is behind them and they are now ready to look ahead and win other important Group A matches.
“We have so much to play for. The World Cup is not decided over one game. It is a long period of time,” Ali was quoted as saying by BBC.
England next take on New Zealand Friday at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
“Australia have set the standard and New Zealand is going to be just as hard. We are going to have to up our skill level and our game,” he added.
Ali who scored 10 runs against Australia before falling prey to a Mitchell Starc delivery, said winning against the Black Caps will show the world their intent and seriousness.
“It’s a very tough draw to play two of the best sides up front. If we can win, it puts us in a great position. It will show everybody that we are a good, serious side.”
Asked about him bowling at the death overs, the 27-year-old said, “We’ve been trying to plan different ways of how we are going to bowl at the death. It’s not easy. I’ve never bowled at the death.
“I can imagine it is very difficult against guys who are set and with the boundaries being not as big. But as long as we are improving and we have a plan, then we’ll be okay.”
Ali admitted that England played the worst cricket possible against Australia Saturday as they slumped to a 111-run defeat.
“That was probably the worst we’ve played in Australia throughout the trip so far. It’s good to get that game out of the way, even though it was a bad result for us.”
The Worcestershire player is determined to make a big score after his failure with the willow.
“As a top-order batsman if we can get in and look to bat the 50 overs or even 35 overs these days, you can get double hundreds. Guys are getting close now, when they get a hundred, they get big hundreds. It’s about us getting in and doing it for the team,” he said.