 Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff discuss tactics |
Captain Michael Vaughan conceded England had to make improvements to their game after a nervy World Cup victory over Bangladesh in Barbados. He said: "We will go into the match against South Africa with the knowledge that we have to improve our game.
"It's sometimes difficult to chase small targets and we could have been more positive with our batting."
"But the Bangladesh spinners are always a handful. Importantly, we got over the line and two points are in the bag."
A strong bowling performance from England had left them with a target of just 144 to chase, which should have been a formality.
 | Colly and Nicco did a great job. They don't really panic and finished it off quite well |
But a series of nervous shots, and some tenacious work from Bangladesh in the field, left them 110-6 before old heads Paul Nixon and Paul Collingwood steered them home.
"Chasing 140, people will say we should have gunned it and knocked them off in 20 overs but we were respectful of the way they bowl, we were respectful of the pitch we played on and it wasn't easy out there batting.
"It would have been nice to win by eight wickets and produce a really
convincing display, but Nixon and Collingwood used their experience and cool
heads to get us over the line in the end.
"We know a little more about the wicket now we've played on it. It's quite a tricky pitch and it's not the flat road everyone thinks it is so it's going to be quite interesting to see how it plays against South Africa."
Vaughan's 30 was the highest score by an England batsman. He added: "It's 30 more than I've been getting recently and it was important that I had a bit of time in the middle."
He was also involved in an unusual incident during Bangladesh's innings when he dropped a soft catch offered by Shahriar Nafees, but his throw to the keeper ran out opposite number Habibul Bashar who had dallied mid-pitch in annoyance at his partner's poor stroke.
"I was embarrassed to be honest," admitted Vaughan.
"I was flicking the ball to Nixon in disgust that I'd dropped the catch, but funny things happen don't they?"
Sajid Mahmood was Man of the Match for his three wickets, having removed both openers and last man Syed Rasel.
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"We bowled reasonably well. Sajid was outstanding with the new ball and the pace off the pitch was hard for the Bangladesh batsmen to cope with."
Mahmood said: "It was good to get on a quick, bouncy wicket and I really enjoyed bowling on it.
"I thought I could pull my length back a bit and it worked for me. Colly and Nicco did a great job. They don't really panic and finished it off quite well."
