da bet vitoria： Michael Vaughan was a concerned England captain in the aftermath of hisside’s comprehensive seven-wicket defeat at Potchefstroom, describing the result as a ‘kick up the arse’
Andrew Miller in Potchefstroom13-Dec-2004
Michael Vaughan: defeat was “a hell of a surprise”© Cricinfo
Michael Vaughan was a concerned England captain in the aftermath of hisside’s comprehensive seven-wicket defeat at Potchefstroom, describing theresult as a “kick up the arse” ahead of the first Test against SouthAfrica, which begins at Port Elizabeth on Friday.”It is a worry,” he admitted. “We’ve been convincingly beaten, and we’vehad one decent session in three days. We haven’t batted well as a unit,and though they bowled exceptionally well throughout, there was only oneperiod, yesterday morning, when our guys were able to get it right, andput them under pressure by bowling in tandem. On the whole, we bowled tooshort and didn’t entice the drive enough.”Vaughan denied that England had come into the match undercooked, andpointed out that there had been similar accusations ahead of their 3-0victories in the Caribbean and at home to New Zealand. But he wasnonetheless concerned about the ramifications of such a defeat.”Cricket is largely a mental game,” he said. “There are technical aspects- time in the middle, overs under the belt – but a lot is about what goeson up top. We’ve got to rally round in the three days between now andFriday. There’s a lot of experienced guys in the side, and they’ve got todo a bit of talking over the next few days.”I thought there were times in the field that we were a bit quiet for ateam that’s won ten out of 11,” he added. “Perhaps this is a timelyreminder that we’re not quite at the standard we think we are. We’ve gotone hell of a surprise in store if we play like this over the next fewweeks.”Vaughan was equally critical of his batsmen and bowlers and admitted thatthe players had perhaps underestimated the opposition. “Our shot selectionin the first innings was questionable,” he said. “The ball was swingingand six of us got out to flamboyant drives, which was a tough shot to playin the conditions. They just dangled the carrot outside off stump and wehad a go. It was a pretty good deck and we should have cashed in.”The particular concern for England is the lack of match practice for thebatsmen, particularly Mark Butcher and Graham Thorpe. But Vaughan wasadamant that they had enough big-match experience to cope. “Butch has atradition of getting nothing in these fixtures, and then going into theTest and putting in a good score. He’s certainly mentally prepared enoughto do that on Friday, as is Thorpey.”But it could be a good time to lose,” he concluded. “We were trying toget too clever, and perhaps didn’t take it as hard as we should. Right nowwe are hurting from a bad loss – and the result suggests it was ahammering. The next few days are crucial, but tomorrow have a chat andmove on to Port Elizabeth.”