Ian Baker - England can learn from South African T20 mentality
18 Nov 2009 - 08:57:20
I suppose Centurion was the ideal setting for South Africa's 84-run thrashing of England in the second and final Twenty20 on Sunday.
Formerly named Lyttelton and Verwoerdburg, Centurion has thrived since being renamed in 1995.
And in this modern-day town, South Africa certainly proved they know how to play the modern-day form of cricket.
Loots Bosman (pictured) and Graeme Smith's incredible opening stand of 170 in 13 overs was exactly how to play Twenty20 cricket.
The coaching manual goes out of the window, the thought pattern goes from survival to attack, attack, attack.
And Bosman and Smith completely destroyed a below-par England attack from the off.
Their mindset was simple: "Let's hit this ball for six."
Sadly England's own mentality was very different stemmed from some very bizarre selection decisions.
Whilst most other international sides pick vastly different teams for all three forms of the game, England's selectors appear to use Twenty20 and ODI cricket as the breeding ground for test cricket.
Yet each form of the game has its various elements - which the selectors do not seem to realise. Alastair Cook and Joe Denly, two very correct players, nudged and nurdled, for three or four runs an over at the start of England innings with a run rate of over 12 required.
Cook and Denly may well make decent ODI players but at Twenty20 level when you need players to play flamboyantly, they are just not what's required – certainly not at the top of the order.
Sajid Mahmood's disastrous figures of 1-65 from four overs underline the selectors' thoughtless policy.
Mahmood had an improving season for Lancashire last term, but that does not make him a decent Twenty20 or ODI bowler.
Mahmood's economy rates at ODI cricket are 5.85, Twenty20 Internationals 11.07, domestic one-day cricket 5.07 and domestic Twenty20 7.55.
That should have been the end of the debate for Mahmood's chances in the shorter form of the game.
Regardless of whether you think the Bolton-born seamer is international class - and I certainly have my doubts - Mahmood may well be capable of the odd wicket but he is more expensive than a night out at the Ritz.
If the selectors decide that he is good enough, they should play him in tests, the form of the game suited to his style of bowling.
England's players now move on from Twenty20 cricket for the time being - but they can learn plenty of lessons from the way South Africa went about their game on Sunday.
And hopefully the selectors were watching too.
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