CAPE TOWN, 24 February 2003 — It’s very sad when the toss of a coin decides the fate of the game. I am never one to offer excuses, but the day-night game at Newlands was always going to be won by the side that bowled second. Unfortunately, Waqar Younis lost the toss, and that became the turning point of the game. When conditions differ so vastly in the evening, it’s best to stick to day games. I know there are only a handful of day-night games in this tournament, but it would have been better if they avoided them completely.
The ball was swinging a lot more in the evening, and the dew on the wicket really livened things up for James Anderson and Andy Caddick. I came in to bat in the 20th over, and the ball was still swinging a great deal. There was hardly any movement when Shoaib and I opened the bowling in the morning, so it was very disappointing to see the wicket changing character so dramatically when we came in to bat.
The Indians will also be playing a day-night game against England in Durban. While the difference in the manner in which the wicket behaves is more pronounced at Newlands and East London than in Durban, the toss is still a factor. The Indians will be hoping that Saurav Ganguly wins that toss since it’s a very crucial game for them.
If losing the toss was not enough, we played very erratic cricket and did not make the most of the chances we got. I was guilty of overstepping a couple of times, and this lapse cost us the crucial wicket of Michael Vaughan. In retrospect I think we over-attacked a little, and this is what allowed England to go from 118 for five to almost 250. We also bowled a large number of four balls, therefore, even while we were taking wickets at regular intervals, we were not building pressure by keeping the runs down.
If anything, our batting is even more cause for concern. Nobody was inclined to spend time in the middle, and the lack of self-belief among our batsman was very visible last night. Anderson is a fine young prospect for England, and like a true champion he made the most of an advantageous situation. Sure, conditions were helpful, but you still have to land the ball at the right spot and Anderson did this with impressive regularity. He dismissed both Inzamam and Youhana with top deliveries, and those successive blows broke the back of the Pakistan lineup.
The team was a little gutted by yesterday’s defeat, with the boys returning to the hotel feeling pretty low. Richard Pybus met us this morning and spoke to us about the 1992 World Cup. We had lost our first two games in that tournament as well, but we came back to become world champions.
We did get a bit of a boost and are aware that it is a do-or-die situation for us.
