Dropped catches 'cost England'

England captain Paul Collingwood blamed dropped catches for the 19-run defeat by the hosts South Africa at the World Twenty20.

South Africa posted 154 for eight, aided by missed chances, including a dropped catch when Albie Morkel was on 14 and he went on to smash 43 off 20 balls.

England had restricted South Africa to 94 for six in the 16th over but could not stem a late rush of runs.

Collingwood said: "The way the boys bowled was fantastic. We made some mistakes in the field but I think we would have taken 154 to chase down.

"I don't think our ground fielding was too bad, it was the catches and it was very costly in the end, It is something we have to look at."

In reply, England slipped to 27 for three and they could not recover.

Collingwood added: "We didn't get off to the best start and we were behind the eight ball from then on," he added.

"We keep on losing a few too many wickets at the top but the young guys will learn from it."

South Africa captain Graeme Smith was delighted with the display, revealing that they did not panic when they lost early wickets

He said: "We know we bat deep and it was superb effort.

"We knew what we had to do. There are few things to work on and there is a long way to go in the tournament but it was fantastic."

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