Leeds, Nov 8 (IANS): Though England have reached the semifinals of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, their journey has not been as smooth as they would have liked. England pipped Australia to the second spot in the Super 12 Group 1 on Net Run Rate and along with New Zealand to the last four stage and set up a clash with India.
However, England are yet to put up a complete performance in the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup as they had lost to Ireland by five runs. The abandoned match against arch-rivals Australia too made things difficult for them. Their batting is one of the elements that has not clicked much and is the main reason for the rough ride in Australia.
England spinner Moeen Ali, however, sees a silver lining in the uncomfortable ride to the semifinals as previous teams have romped to the last-four stage but have fizzled out after that.
"I don't think we've played that well in the whole tournament. But we got the job done. We wanted to get to the semis. In the past, we've played well and got through. This time I don't think we've played well but we've got through and I feel the best is yet to come with this side, the best performance," Moeen Ali was quoted as saying in a report by Yorkshire Post newspaper.
The England all-rounder said though England may not have performed as strongly as they would have liked, the semifinal is the right time for them to put their act together.
"I don't think we've really been near where we want to be, but now is a great opportunity to put that right and put in a team performance where we could be the best side in the tournament.
"You always talk about peaking at the right time and if you just about scrape through, it means you can get better. If we play our best cricket in the next two games we win the World Cup, I believe," Moeen said.
Moeen added: "There is something to be said for winning ugly. I think the conditions have been hard work, the wickets haven't been great, the weather's been poor and it's almost felt like a tournament that's not really got going.
"But I think this is the stage where you want to be in at these tournaments and hopefully put in a good performance," he said.