PAUL DRINKHALL admits England's men's table tennis team were not at their best as they won their opening Commonwealth Games fixture against Jamaica - but the North-Easterner expects to see major improvements as the tournament goes on.
England were 3-0 victors over Jamaica in the opening session of competition in Glasgow, with all three matches resulting in straight-set wins.
Drinkhall got the ball rolling with an 11-7, 11-8, 11-4 win over Simon Tomlinson, before Liam Pitchford saw off Kane Watson 11-8, 11-7, 11-7.
With Hutton Rudby's Danny Reed a non-playing reserve in the opening fixture, Loftus' Drinkhall then teamed up with Andrew Baggaley to win a doubles match against Tomlinson and Chris Marsh 11-5, 11-4, 11-3.
"It is different conditions, a different hall, quite a big event and quite different to other tournaments so it is good to come through," said Drinkhall. "I don’t think any of us played our best table tennis – we did get better throughout the match – but that is what we are looking to do and hopefully we will be ready when the bigger matches come.
"We got through 9-0 overall so it was a good result and it is a good confidence booster to move on."
England return to action later this afternoon when they play their second preliminary round match against Trinidad & Tobago.
England's women also got off to a winning start this morning, although Stockton's Karina Le Fevre was not involved as Ghana were beaten 3-0.
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