Cook beaten but unbowed after ruthless Proteas show

Published on Sunday 15 November 2009 23:04

ALASTAIR Cook was a proud man after leading England for the first time yesterday but conceded that he could not have been given a tougher induction to captaincy in international cricket after suffering at the hands of a ruthless South Africa.

The Essex opener, thrust into the role after regular Twenty20 skipper Paul Collingwood was ruled out yesterday morning due to a stiff back, saw his side taken apart by 84 runs at Centurion. It came after a world-record 170-run opening partnership between Graeme Smith (88) and Loots Bosman (94) helped the Proteas reach 241 for six – the second-highest 20-over total ever.

The response was a painful one for England and they were always behind the game before eventually finishing with 157 for eight, thanks largely to a half-century from Jonathan Trott.

Despite the loss that helped the Proteas square the series at 1-1, Cook was pleased with the honour.

"I don't think it comes much tougher than that, so credit to how Smith and Bosman played at the top of the order," he said.

"Everything we tried didn't really work and they punished us. Everyone was busting their gut to try and bowl to the plan, but as I said the margins were quite small today and our skills were probably not good enough to deal with it."

Asked when he found out he would be captain, he added: "This morning. Obviously we knew last night it was touch and go with Colly. Unfortunately, he didn't make it. Whatever happened today, I actually enjoyed it. I'll go to bed very disappointed with the result, but I tried my best and I captained my country today for the first time."

Apart from Trott's 51, there was also another major positive for England following the return of Kevin Pietersen, who took the place of Collingwood. It was the first bit of action for England's star player since the second Ashes Test in July, after which he underwent surgery to his troublesome right Achilles. Pietersen was only scheduled to return in a warm-up game tomorrow, but due to the shortage of batsmen in the squad and regular captain Andrew Strauss' decision to no longer play the shortest form of the game, it meant a quick return for the Hampshire batsman.

Cook said there was no doubt that he was fit to return, adding: "He's made some great progress over the last few days, in the last week after coming over here.

"Ideally, he probably would have had another match and more match practice. Since the Ashes Test match he hasn't batted, but with Colly going out he had to come in.

"He's 100 per cent fully fit. The only thing was the match practice – he would have liked a knock in the middle before, but it wasn't to be."

South Africa coach Mickey Arthur was pleased with the win, especially after the one-run Duckworth/Lewis loss in the first game on Friday. "We were obviously very frustrated the other night. We were really keen to make amends today and it's really satisfying," he said.

Arthur also felt his side would gain more out of the two matches despite the series ending level at 1-1. "I think the emphatic way in which we won, I guess we come out of the weekend far better than England have."

SCOREBOARD

South Africa

G C Smith c Mahmood b Denly 88

L L Bosman c Anderson b L J Wright 94

J A Morkel c Bresnan b Pietersen 14

J P Duminy c L J Wright b Anderson 2

A B de Villiers run out 24

J H Kallis b Mahmood 7

H G Kuhn not out 5

R McLaren not out 1

Extras b2 lb1 w1 nb2 pens 0 6

Total 6 wkts (20 overs) 241

England

J L Denly b Abdulla 14

A N Cook c van der Merwe b J A Morkel 26

I J L Trott c Kuhn b J A Morkel 51

K P Pietersen b van der Merwe 29

E J G Morgan b Steyn 10

L J Wright c Sub b Steyn 12

M J Prior not out 10

T T Bresnan c Smith b McLaren 0

A U Rashid run out 1

S I Mahmood not out 1

Extras w3 pens 0 3

Total 8 wkts (20 overs) 157

South Africa beat England by 84 runs