Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, was critical of his side’s cavalierapproach to their innings after South Africa had bundled them out for 139on the opening day of the second Test at Kingsmead
Andrew Miller26-Dec-2004
Duncan Fletcher: ‘Our judgment was clouded and therewere some soft dismissals’© Getty Images
Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, was critical of his side’s cavalierapproach to their innings after South Africa had bundled them out for 139on the opening day of the second Test at Kingsmead. By the close, SouthAfrica had reached 70 for 3 in reply, and were one good partnership awayfrom taking control of the match.”South Africa were fortunate to win the toss and take advantage,” Fletchertold reporters at the close, “but that should have been at least a 250 wicket. I believe we had the talent to put together one grafting,workmanlike stand, which would have got up to that mark.”We need to think on our feet at times,” Fletcher added. “We want to playpositive cricket and move the game along at three-and-a-half runs an over,but on that sort of pitch, 2.5 can be an exciting rate as well. We neededto regroup and be a little patient, but our judgment was clouded and therewere some soft dismissals.Fletcher pointed to the performance of Andrew Strauss, England’s hero ofthe first Test, as proof of the demons in the pitch. “Strauss played sowell [at Port Elizabeth], but he found it very difficult to get startedhere. There was a bit of inconsistent bounce and pace, and after two orthree balls when you thought you were in, the next ball would whip pastyou.”Shaun Pollock was South Africa’s bowling hero with 4 for 32 in 15.1 oversand, understandably, he took a slightly different view of the day’s play.”There’s always grass here, and the general colour of grass is green,” hedeadpanned. “There wasn’t much sideways movement, but there was good carryand bounce, with just two or three staying low from the far side.”We’re chuffed to have bowled England out for 139,” he continued. “We’veregrouped since Port Elizabeth, and we have to take credit for that. We’vereassessed our gameplans and identified where we went wrong. Today we weredisciplined but aggressive as well.”In the whole of England’s innings, South Africa bowled just two no-balls,as opposed to the 35 in the first innings at Port Elizabeth. “That’s a bigbonus,” agreed Pollock. “We’ve been much more professional in this Test.But we’re not setting ourselves any targets when we bat,” he added. “Weneed to get a partnership or two going, which is what they didn’t manage,and put their bowlers under pressure.”As if England did not have enough problems, they suffered an injury scareas well, after Ashley Giles suffered a back spasm during his valianthour-long rearguard, and did not take the field afterwards. “It happenedwhile he was ducking a bouncer,” said Fletcher. “It’s difficult to say[whether he will play tomorrow], but at the moment he’s struggling.”Giles suffered a similar problem at Chittagong on last winter’s tour ofBangladesh, and in the entire Test he bowled just seven overs. “On thatoccasion, he just woke up fine,” added Fletcher, “so we’re hoping he willcome back fit tomorrow.”