±«Óătv

It is the right decision, but judging by how he has struggled here, you cannot help but wonder how he will get through the in December, which is England’s plan. More worrying is what will happen in the months and years after that.

It was ironic though, that England saved their best T20 batting display for .

If it wasn’t for Yuvraj Singh’s incredible six sixes, they might even have beaten India as they were left needing 36 off the final over. If you were among the 16,000 at Kingsmead though, you will never forget the sight of Yuvraj striking poor old Stuart Broad cleanly out of the ground six times in a row. Broad was left staring hopelessly up into the sky as , off just 12 deliveries.

As a bowler himself, Yuvraj was sympathetic to Broad’s plight and didn’t want to rave about his achievement when I spoke to him post-match. After being on the receiving end of 5 consecutive sixes from Dimitri Mascerenhas at the Oval this Summer, he knows how much it hurts to be crashed out of sight. “As a batsman it’s a great feeling,” he said. “But as a bowler it’s not a good day obviously. You’re trying your best and it’s just not your day. Everyone has a bad day and I’m sure he (Broad) will have good days too.”

Paul Collingwood knows that it will be up to the team to get behind Broad, let him know they have absolute faith in him and hope his confidence hasn’t taken too much of a knock as they now head off to Sri Lanka. “He’s absolutely gutted,” said Collingwood. “He’s a proud man, he’s got pride in his bowling and to be hit for 36 he’ll be absolutely devastated.”

So England will now slink off to Johannesburg and try to get the earliest possible flight out to Colombo. Those who aren’t in the one-day squad head back to the UK, leaving David Graveney et al to ponder over the selection of the so-called Twenty20 specialists.

Coach Peter Moores defended the selection of players called up on the basis of their T20 domestic performances, and let’s face it, there was a clamour for the selectors to recognise and reward those players who had shone in that form of the game. I’m sure that if England had gone out of the tournament without the likes of Maddy, Snape, Schofield and Kirtley, the selectors would have been hammered for leaving them at home.

It was disappointing for Kirtley and Snape that they barely got a chance, bowling just one over each in the competition, but this tournament has shown that the best ODI players will adapt to any form of the game. , who have stuck with their tried and tested one-day team.

Unfortunately for England, even their best players failed when it mattered, with too many games being thrown away from winning positions with the bat.