Kiwis and England return to the crease

England, without injured star batsman Kevin Pietersen, have been accused of scoring their runs too slowly.

Jonathan Trott, whom England expect to be fit for Sunday’s match against the Black Caps in Cardiff following a quad injury, has found himself in the firing line even though he has scored over 2,500 runs at an impressive average of 52.56 for England in the 50-over format.

Trott played the anchor role in top-scoring for England with 76 at The Oval on Thursday in a seemingly challenging total of 293 for seven that Sri Lanka overhauled during a seven-wicket victory thanks to Kumar Sangakkara’s superb 134 not out.

“I don’t think it’s rocket science,” said Giles.

“Fifty overs is a long time. You want to set the innings up and give yourselves a platform to build from later on.

“It was disappointing to lose the game the other day to Sri Lanka, but it took an incredibly good innings from one of the best players in the world to do that,” he said.

Giles insisted England’s approach was no different from that of tournament pacesetters India, the first team into the semi-finals.

“India don’t play that much different. They look to set up from the top and then go hard at the back end.”

New Zealand have yet to rule out paceman Tim Southee, although he remains doubtful with an ankle injury.

As for the prospect of facing England yet again, Black Caps coach Mike Hesson said: “We’ve played them six times and it’s three-all so we’ve had some pretty good contests.

“I think both sides will enter tomorrow (Sunday) with a degree of trepidation…I think we’re very evenly matched.”