By Mickey Arthur
Just as I was beginning to come to terms with the inevitable stumble that every team has during a major tournament, we staged a remarkable fightback against New Zealand in the last group match to win a thriller by just one run.
You can talk about taking your foot off the accelerator, about resting certain players and conserving your physical and emotional energy for the next match which really matters. But with this team, talking is all you can do!
Playing with maximum intensity has become a habit which they are afraid to lose. If they had eased off and conceded defeat after batting poorly and scoring only 128 then it would have set a completely alien precedent to this group of cricketers. And by winning on a bad day, they have removed some of the fear of the X factor in T20 cricket.
You often hear people say anyone can have a bad day or it just takes one brilliant performance to win a game and your tournament is over. Well, we had a bad day and we won. Now, inevitably, we await the brilliant performance from people like Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen and Yuvraj/Dhoni/Sehwag/Zaheer etc etc in the Super Eight stage of the competition.
I am concerned about India at the moment. There seems to be an unhappy feeling around the squad at the moment. I try not to listen to rumours and gossip but there is too much talk amongst the players at the moment about what is going on around the squad. Im afraid there is too much smoke, and that means there must be a fire, or two.
We have had personnel problems and character conflicts in the South African team in the past every team has those issues. I have always found that honesty is the best way to handle them and move forward.
Honesty with the people involved, with their colleagues and yes, with the media too! Journalists and cricket writers are also people and they understand that no team is one, big happy family. In fact, in my experience, journalists understand conflict quite well!
On a tactical note, I have identified overs seven to nine as being a vital blind spot for many teams, but especially us. I think we have been subconsciously taking a breather after the frantic pace of the Power Play at the top of the innings and that is dangerous because it can set the tone for the rest of the innings. Against New Zealand we only scored three runs in those overs. We will be focussing sharply on that period from now on.
Incidentally, I said I was concerned about India not because I care about them, but because teams with a bit of friction in the dressing room can go one of two ways. Either they disintegrate, or they become unbeatable. I worry about the second path with India.
HAWKEYE COMMUNICATIONS
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