ENGLAND are being urged to prove their mettle as they seek to re-assert their authority over South Africa in the dec- iding fifth one-day international.
Eoin Morgan’s young team opened up a 2-0 lead over their hosts last week, and were beginning to target a 5-0 whitewash, but back-to-back defeats at Centurion and Johannesburg have changed all that and the onus is now on the tourists to demonstrate nerve and resilience, especially after the latest defeat where England lost by an agonising solitary wicket in a match Morgan himself admits they should have won.
Batting coach Graham Thorpe reports England management will be disinclined, in the short time between Friday night’s setback at the Wanderers and the first ball at Newlands this morning, to preach any lessons to be learned. Little needs to be said, Thorpe believes, because the mistakes were obvious with England losing five middle- order wickets for 21 runs but salvaging 262 all out thanks to Joe Root’s second successive century.
They then dropped three catches, the most critical Adil Rashid’s at mid-off which reprieved match-winner Chris Morris on only 14 on his way to a maiden ODI 50 from number eight.
Assessing the need for a quick and effective response to seal a series victory, Thorpe said: “It’s a good test for them. You have to stand up and be a man. You get knocked down; you have to get yourselves back up, dust yourselves down and go again. It’s mental strength really (that’s required). We’re going to learn even more about this group of lads.”
The majority of the team set to try to add ODI success to England’s Test series victory in South Africa will be in India next month for the ICC World Twenty20. Their ability, or otherwise, to get themselves out of trouble in Cape Town will therefore be informative.
“You want to see them in pressure situations, because that’s when you learn most about them,” said Thorpe. “It’s an opportunity to stand up.
He senses the hosts could still be vulnerable too. “South Africa may feel the momentum is with them, they’ve got back into the series. But that wasn’t a perfect performance by them either.”
In any case, Thorpe believes encouragement rather than criticism is what England need.
“You have to let it settle,” he said. “It’s a disappointment, naturally. But we’re not 3-1 down; we’re not going to a dead rubber.”
Root has played wonderfully well for his seventh and eighth ODI hundreds in the past week, yet has finished on the losing side each time.
“He’s certainly grasped all facets of the game,” said Thorpe. “His tactical nous was on show. When you lose wickets around you quite quickly, you have to be quite astute and keep your cool, to get your team a score on the board. He did that fantastically well. I don’t think you could have asked him to play a tactically better innings.”
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