Graeme Smith has used the absence of Andrew Strauss from 20-over cricket to pour more pressure on the England captain by claiming that his decision to opt out of the format will make life tougher for the touring side.
Strauss will hand over to Paul Collingwood for the Twenty20 internationals at the Wanderers tonight and Centurion on Sunday after restating that he will not be available except to help out in any injury crisis.
England are not yet in that situation even though Alastair Cook left nets early yesterday with a viral problem.
Smith, the South Africa captain, expressed surprise that Strauss will not play after a prolific start to the trip and said that Andy Flower, the England team director, would find his job easier working with a single leader.
There is no doubt that Smith, who saw Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan resign midway through series against South Africa, is trying to undermine a third England captain, but Collingwood says that attempts to play mind games with Strauss will be like water off a duck’s back.
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“It does surprise me that Andrew is not playing,” Smith said, repeating his view that Strauss has tried to become more outspoken and tougher since taking on the captaincy. “Having started so well, it seems strange that he is not now playing a part.
“Looking at the England line-up the other night [against South Africa A], Alastair Cook has not played a lot of one-day cricket, but he was there. If he plays, then why not Strauss? I think Strauss is a leader trying to stamp his authority on the environment, so it is interesting to me why he has decided to take a week off.
“I think it is ideal for the captain to captain across all formats. It is very difficult to keep chopping and changing. Who handles team meetings? Who runs the show this weekend? Those questions are very difficult for me to answer, but it must be an interesting dynamic within the side.”
Strauss made himself unavailable after appearing against West Indies in Trinidad in March because he did not think he deserved a place in the side on merit, although he was the second-highest scorer in the defeat. “I think the simple fact was that he was not enjoying Twenty20 cricket,” Collingwood said.
“Since then his game has developed from what he was always seen as, a Test cricketer, into a very good one-day cricketer and I am sure he could now make the step up to the Twenty20 form as well. He is such a talented player. When we had a few niggles a return was mentioned, but we are not going down that route.”
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The root of England’s problem is the relatively low priority given to 20-over cricket at the highest level. With two games, as against five in the 50-over format, they have not seen fit to pick specialists for the crash-bang version, as they surely must to be successful at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies next spring.
An imaginative strategy would be to pick players suited for 20 overs and ask them to step up to 50-over games as well. Those matches increasingly feel like elongated Twenty20s in any case, with totals beyond 300 becoming more common. Collingwood and Smith believe that more of the shorter games should be scheduled.
In contrast, domestic 20-over events are up and running even in second-tier cricketing countries such as Canada and Kenya, while an Asian Twenty20 featuring China and 11 other countries takes place this month.
Stuart Broad and Kevin Pietersen have been ruled out for England this evening, while Graham Onions may not be risked while a back problem persists. Given that Sri Lanka omitted Muttiah Muralitharan at the same ground in the Champions Trophy two months ago, it is hard to see Adil Rashid featuring as a second spin bowler.