Surrey's leg spinning all-rounder, Chris Schofield, who is on tour with the England team out in South Africa, tells us his thoughts about his side's chances in the World Twenty20 tournament. He writes...

My hand is recovering well. I had the stitches taken out last Tuesday and have been able to take part in the training and preparation building up to our first couple of matches.

We had a team meeting a couple of hours before the match against Zimbabwe started and I knew that they would be announcing the team during that meeting. I was really happy when I was included in the starting 11. We had had a few net sessions and team drills in the days leading up to the match and I had been bowling really well, so I felt like I had a really good chance of playing.

There is a great atmosphere in the dressing room and it is really easy to fit in. The side are really confident having come off the back of a successful summer especially winning a close NatWest One Day International series before flying out to South Africa. The victory against Zimbabwe was the perfect way to start the competition as you always have feelings of uncertainty before starting the unknown. However after losses to both Australia and South Africa, we really need to re group and win our remaining two matches to qualify for the semi-final stage.

It all starts tomorrow for us against the Kiwis. They will be very hard for us as they are a very well-rounded team who have depth in batting and a good variety in the bowling department. We have a practice session this afternoon in Durban and we’ll sit down then to discuss tactics.

I think that we might re-jig our batting line up slightly as we haven’t got off to the best of starts with the bat. Luke Wright has not had a good tournament so far so Vikram Solanki could get a go at the top of the order.

Last night’s match was a bit disappointing as we did get off to an excellent start and had we taken our chances, I think we win the game. A few catches went down and our fielding was pretty sloppy. Albie Morkel hit me for three consecutive sixes but not before I should have had him caught at long on. If we take that catch, I end up with figures of around 2-20 off my four overs instead of 1-34. Oh well, that’s cricket and I just have to keep bowling like I have been.

From an individual perspective, things have gone pretty well for me. I am trying to mix it up as much as possible and it seems to be working. Generally, I look at how a batsman is looking to play me and then try and force him to do the opposite. Last night, I saw that Justin Kemp was looking to hit me straight so I bowled flippers skidding into his pads, which he couldn’t do much with. That was pretty satisfying for me but as a bowler you always have to be on your toes.

Against Zimbabwe, I was a bit nervous but once I got the first few deliveries out of the way, I settled down. I tried to mix up the pace at which I bowled the ball and it came out really well. We kept the runs down in the middle period and from there on Zimbabwe never really had a chance and I knew that we had done it. It was a fantastic feeling getting back in the dressing room having won.

After that match, we just went back to the hotel and relaxed ready to take on Australia the next day. With Australia having lost to Zimbabwe, we knew that we were basically through to the next stage of the competition and that a victory would mean that the Aussies would be out. The atmosphere in the ground was incredible and once again we batted first.

The Aussies bowled very consistently, mixing up their pace and they made it really difficult for us to score quickly. We got off to a decent start and when Freddie and KP were in together I thought we would really kick on and post a decent score. We lost both players at key moments which put us on the back foot. Getting 130 odd was never going to be enough runs but we tried to give ourselves a chance by taking early wickets.

Once again I was a bit nervous before bowling but my first ball came out well which really settled me down. I am bowling nicely at the moment and I felt that if I could string a few dot balls together, either Matthew Hayden or Adam Gilchrist would try something to score off me. I picked up Gilchrist in my second over, which was an awesome feeling but at that point Australia were well ahead of the rate and were close to winning.

I was really impressed with both Hayden and Gilchrist. They can hit the ball so hard and are very difficult to stop when they get in that frame of mind. Morkel is another powerful hitter and one that we’ll need to stop if we come across him again.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for an England win tomorrow. The feeling in the camp is still very positive and we believe that a win tomorrow will give us the momentum to get into the semis. From there on, anything can happen.

Chris Schofield Player Profile

Chris Schofield talks with Surrey TV

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