Those who discerned a cunning, Baldrickian plan behind England’s opening defeat by the Netherlands, namely that by exiting the World Twenty20 at the first opportunity their players would be able to get in the best possible first-class form for the Ashes, can rest easy. To judge from last night’s authoritative win against Pakistan, England are taking this tournament as seriously as everyone else.
England looked a totally different team from the nervy, tentative outfit of the opening day and this was in no small measure because it was a different outfit. The selectors responded to Friday’s embarrassment by making three changes: three one-dimensional cricketers departed — Robert Key, Ryan Sidebottom and Eoin Morgan — replaced by multidimensional ones in Kevin Pietersen, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Graeme Swann, all of whom gave the team added depth and greater options.
The most important change was the return of Pietersen, who made 58 from 38 balls and skipped about with such friskiness it was difficult to think that he was incapacitated two days ago. Pietersen’s presence cannot be underestimated and with Mascerenhas coming in at No 6, England’s middle order looked as power-packed yesterday as it had been anaemic two days before.
Forget all that guff about singles winning one-day games. Boundaries win Twenty20 matches, especially sixes, and before this match England’s count was low, their six-hitting count the lowest. Luke Wright was the first to clear the ropes yesterday, Pietersen added three and there was one apiece for Owais Shah and James Foster. England hit 24 boundaries, Pakistan 13. To reduce a game of cricket to a boundary count sounds simplistic, but that is Twenty20.
In only one respect was last night’s victory fortunate and that was that England came up against the one team who had looked even rustier than themselves in the warm-up games. Pakistan’s fielding was horrific and reflected a team short on cricket and confidence.
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Pakistan’s supporters drifted away long before the end, followed by the inevitable “Are you England in disguise?” As the Netherlands showed, anyone can win a Twenty20 match, and to the relief of the ECB and its marketing department, last night belonged emphatically to England.