London, June 6 (Inditop) England captain Paul Collingwood said the loss against the Netherlands in the Twenty20 World Cup opener would be hard to swallow.

England recorded one of their worst cricketing defeats when they lost to the Dutch team by four wickets at Lord’s Friday.

“That’s pretty hard to take,” Collingwood said.

The England skipper admitted that the opponents were the better team.

“The Netherlands thoroughly deserved their victory, We thought we had enough runs on the board but they played with freedom and belief and ran better than us.

“The way they knocked the runs off was mightily impressive. We were beaten by the better side. Full credit to them.”

England failed to defend 162 runs and missed run-outs and dropped catches cost England dear.

“We had opportunities to win the game but we didn’t take them.”

Defeat left England needing to beat Pakistan at the Oval Sunday to get through the second stage Super Eight.

“We’ve got 24 hours to get our heads round it. We are still in the tournament but we’ve got to play a lot better.”