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England limp apologetically into World Cup

Although the hosts should not be unduly extended by the Netherlands at Lord’s (1630GMT), captain Paul Collingwood was noticeably downbeat after his side’s unimpressive victory over Scotland in Tuesday’s warmup match.

“There are not a lot of expectations on us to be honest,” Collingwood told reporters. “We are dark horses. Hopefully that will give the boys a bit more of a licence.”

Collingwood was in better spirits a day later when England recorded a seventh successive victory over West Indies, cruising to an untroubled nine wickets win with 32 balls to spare at Lord’s.

Ravi Bopara, who scored three successive test centuries against West Indies, was again in fine touch with 60 from 35 balls.

England’s leading batsman Kevin Pietersen also showed some form against the Scots after missing the one-day series against West Indies with an achilles tendon injury.

Pietersen, who made two ducks in the Indian Premier League and perished first ball in the first test against West Indies, completed the win on Tuesday with a pulled six to reach 53 not out from 39 balls.

The Netherlands are 500-1 outsiders but Dutch captain Jeroen Smits told the captains’ news conference last Sunday that all the pressure would be on England.

“There’s no pressure on us,” he said. “There’s no Dutch reporters here.”

The tournament, which is being staged at Lord’s and the Oval in London and Trent Bridge in Nottingham, gets into full swing on Saturday with three matches. Champions India, who thrashed Pakistan by nine wickets on Wednesday, open their Cup defence against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge (1700).