LONDON, (Reuters) – In contrast to the ebullience of  some of the other Twenty20 World Cup contenders, England open  the tournament today almost apologising for their presence.

Although the hosts should not be unduly extended by the  Netherlands at Lord’s (1630GMT), captain Paul Collingwood was  noticeably downbeat after his side’s unimpressive victory over  Scotland in Tuesday’s warm-up match.

“There are not a lot of expectations on us to be honest,”  Collingwood told reporters. “We are dark horses. Hopefully that  will give the boys a bit more of a licence.”

Collingwood was in better spirits a day later when England  recorded a seventh successive victory over West Indies, cruising  to an untroubled nine wickets win with 32 balls to spare at  Lord’s.

Ravi Bopara, who scored three successive test centuries  against West Indies, was again in fine touch with 60 from 35  balls.

England’s leading batsman Kevin Pietersen also showed some  form against the Scots after missing the one-day series against  West Indies with an achilles tendon injury.

Pietersen, who made two ducks in the Indian Premier League  and perished first ball in the first test against West Indies,  completed the win on Tuesday with a pulled six to reach 53 not  out from 39 balls.

The Netherlands are 500-1 outsiders but Dutch captain Jeroen  Smits told the captains’ news conference last Sunday that all  the pressure would be on England.

“There’s no pressure on us,” he said. “There’s no Dutch  reporters here.”

The tournament, which is being staged at Lord’s and the Oval  in London and Trent Bridge in Nottingham, gets into full swing  on Saturday with three matches. Champions India, who thrashed  Pakistan by nine wickets on Wednesday, open their Cup defence  against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge (1700).