But not for the first time in the history of the limited-overs game, England are being left behind.
SCHOOL MATE 2 LAGGING HARD HOW TO
When he told this column last night that "I've learned how to open the batting in Twenty20 cricket", the pessimism was briefly stalled. But all we've had to show so far is Ravi Bopara's sparkling 84 against Pietersen's Bangalore. This was the tournament that was supposed to show the world how badly the IPL had missed the English in 2008. The result: caught at extra cover second ball for a duck. Pietersen is less culpable, being England's innovator par excellence, but even he was undone when Kings XI Punjab's Yusuf Abdulla gave him a slower one last week. Flintoff himself admitted his only variation was to bowl a bit quicker and duly flew home for an operation on Friday with IPL figures of 11-0-105-2 after AB de Villiers had taught him a painful lesson about predictability in Durban. The Slower Ball Theory states that English cricketers are flummoxed by innovation. And it's unlikely to be patented any time soon. (Poor old Colly hasn't even made it on to the field neither have Owais Shah or Graham Napier.) Theories have abounded. To be an English hack in South Africa these last few days has been - give or take a few breaks for food and sleep - to enter into conversation about the problem with Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. But for England's players at the Indian Premier League and way, way beyond, it may just be the most useful snippet they will ever hear. For adherents to the G Boycott school of batting, the mantra will come as a disappointment. "Watch ball, hit ball." This was as profound as Virender Sehwag's masterclass got the other day when he was asked for some advice by Paul Collingwood, his Delhi Daredevils team-mate here in South Africa.
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