The fifty over Twenty-20 game

'Crazy-hitting' was the word on a day when South Africa went 3-1 ahead with just 2 more games remaining. Smith got his 2nd century of the series, but you would realise it was a more sedate one when you scroll down the scorecard. Kallis started it all, or should I say, Kabir Ali started it all with his bowling when he gave away 5 fours to Kallis in his first over. Justin Kemp (next Klusener?) then took over the blitzkrieg duties and South Africa posted 311.

England started off ridiculously poorly, with Trescothick hanging around for 20 balls and making just four runs. Just a couple of days ago, he had been touted as the most dangerous opener in the world along with the likes of Chris Gayle and Virender Sehwag. I suppose the only reason Gilchrist doesnt figure in that list is because he is in a team which plays something other than cricket.

At the 15 over stage, England were scoring less than 4 runs per over so questions will have to be asked about the attitude of the top order batsmen. The fact that they almost made it was due to 70 from Vaughan, some lower order biffing and a crazy 69-ball century, his second in a very short one-day career, from Kevin Pietersen, who will certainly be called what Martin McCague was in case England end up playing poorly in the Ashes. Did someone exclaim "in case" ?!

I doubt if Pietersen got enough of the strike. When Collingwood got out at the end of the 43rd over, England needed around 76 more. They got 68. The tailenders (Giles, Kabir and Gough) faced a total of 23 balls scoring 36 runs. Assuming that there were around 6 extras in those 7 overs, Pietersen got 26 runs in around 17 balls. That is a clear indication that Pietersen just didnt get enough of the strike, or take enough of it, depending on your point of view. In addition, this hints at the possibility that the tailenders scored faster than Pietersen!

One-day cricket looks like a bore only because of the extreme amount of power play involved. Instead of talking of shifting to Twenty20 cricket or something else, it would be better to give the batsmen and the bowlers a fair and equal chance. For that, the first step could be to drop the talk about Twenty20 internationals. Let people who can't win Tests or ODIs embrace it, not Australia please!