After Friday's performance against the Netherlands, it would be easy to believe that England are still not taking Twenty20 seriously. I think that's far from the truth. What I believe is that England are taking 20-over cricket seriously, but are not good enough at it yet. What other explanation could there be for the way in which they were limited to 162 when they were 102/1 at one stage? The least they should have got was 180.
The thing is, Twenty20 is a batting game, no matter what spin you try to put on it, and England have shown that they are at least aware of the problem by leaving out the Test players and packing the side with youngsters like Ewan Morgan and Adil Rashid. However, the old tendency to collapse like a pack of cards persists.
The other thing they are suffering from is a lack of leadership. Make no mistake, I think Paul Collingwood is a lovely lad, but he always was, and remains, a reluctant captain. He even gave it up last year, if you remember. And against the Netherlands, he appeared to be leading by committee as everyone kept going into huddles. Great captains allow only so much democracy in the team, and my belief is that the shorter the version of the game, the greater the role of the captain. Therefore, Robert Key, who captions Kent, would have been ideal for the role of captain in the absence of Kevin Pietersen.
But the problem is that Key hasn't been batting too well of late, which may have prevented the selectors from appointing him as leader. As it is, he only got picked because of Pietersen's injury. So what we have is a situation in which a team fairly full of newcomers has a reluctant leader at the helm: not exactly a recipe for success.
To make matters worse, tomorrow's game against Pakistan is likely to be a huge one for England. It ought to be a high-scoring encounter, given that the Oval is among the truest and flattest pitches in England, with the ball coming on nicely to the bat on an even bounce, but self-destruction is a quality that defines the teams of both Pakistan and England, so it remains to be seen who will blink first.
If England lose on Sunday, they are likely to find themselves struggling to stay in the tournament and depending on other teams to play badly. Pakistan, not having tasted defeat yet, have a slight edge there, but given their unpredictability, cannot be relied upon to walk away with the spoils. However, it ought to help if England panic the way they did against the Netherlands, and if the captain is unable to think on the move. When you have a format in which two overs can change the course of a game, there's no substitute for quick thinking. Protracted team discussions in the middle are only going to make matters worse.
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