England's consultant of coaching Paul Collingwood Saturday showed excitement over a young bunch of players who he believes put the team in a strong place - with the long term goal of winning the 2019 World Cup at home. England thumped Pakistan by 95 runs in the second match in Abu Dhabi on Friday to level the four-match series at 1-1.
The win set England on the right path of progress after they shuffled the team following a disastrous 2015 World Cup where they failed to reach the last eight. Collingwood said the young group can flourish. "They're a young group who want to go out and give it their best, and it's fantastic there's no ceiling to them ... the way they can flourish, and the environment.
"It's really exciting for English cricket to have a young set of talented cricketers like this ... we're in a very good, strong place." Since the World Cup, England beat New Zealand 3-2 and narrowly lost to world champions Australia by the same margin - both at home in the last five months. Collingwood, captain of England's World Twenty20 win in 2010, admitted the long term goal is to win the 50-over World Cup.
"We understand there's a lot of development to go on ... and a lot of learning to do. That comes from the players themselves. The one thing that is working for them is keeping that same aggressive nature from the last two series. "Ultimately, we have a long-term goal - to win the World Cup," said Collingwood of the elusive title. England, who hosted the first three editions of the 50-over World Cup (1975, 1979 and 1983), have yet to win the title in 11 attempts.
Collingwood praised England's bounce back against Pakistan, after losing the first game by six wickets - in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. "We were disappointed with the way we batted in the first game, but the way we bounced back was superb. It took a lot of guts from the two openers to go out there and take it to the opposition and put them under pressure," said Collingwood of Alex Hales who scored 109 and Jason Roy who made 54.
"I thought we got well ahead of the game with that great partnership, and it really set the tone. To get to a total like that on that surface was fantastic," said Collingwood of England's 283-5 Pakistan were bowled out for 188. Collingwood praised 26-year-old Hales and rates him good for Tests as well. "Halesy is a talent that can do things other people can't, and that's the kind of guy you want in your team. He's shown he's got the temperament, mentality to be really aggressive in one-day cricket - and the mental side of the game is pretty much 90 per cent of playing cricket."