Hollingsworth thinks England are closing gap on India

Justin Hollingsworth in action for England in their recent series against world champions India.

England took on the tourists in three T20 matches and two one-day internationals but came unstuck against the world champions in both forms of the game.

However, there were some standout performances with bat and ball including the rare feat of bowling the Indians out in their ODI match in Wolverhampton.

And Hollingsworth is confident his side can continue to improve ahead of next year’s tour of Australia and 20/20 World Cup.

“It was amazing to see how close we were to the Indians and to show that we can push them all the way even though they are world champions,” said Hollingsworth, an apprentice groundsman at Leamington CC.

“I think it shows we have come on leaps and bounds and have been progressing steadily for the last few years.

“It was amazing to see such strong performances from the squad and see how together we were as a team.

“We definitely showed that we are capable of upping our game when it is needed and I think the improvements we have made will only continue.”

England opened the series with a 58-run defeat in the first ODI before losing out by four wickets in a T20 clash at the Oval.

A 83-run loss in their final ODI was followed by back-to-back T20 defeats to close out the series but Hollingsworth was happy with the performances and delighted to see the attention the series received.

“We got to play at the Oval as well which is something that I never thought would happen,” he added.

“The game is so much bigger than when I first started and back then we were playing on small grounds with no one watching.

“At the moment we have a four-year plan and by the end of it we want to be world champions and I think we are on the right path to achieving that.

“The last time we played India in a series was in 2010 and we got annihilated but this time around we pushed them in every single match and had them in trouble.”

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