England Cricket / Frank Gregan / 16 November 2009 /

Nobody was more pleased to see England start their winter tour with a win than Frank Gregan. Our man just wishes they had done it with a blaze of wickets rather than via the calculator....

Talk about a damp firework! The Gods decided to rain on the parade on Friday night and what looked likely to be one of the greatest games of Twenty20 ever witnessed ended up being a case of 'last one out turn the lights off!'

England, helped in no small part by a magnificent knock from Eoin Morgan, had set South Africa a massive target of 203 to win but the Proteas showed no fear and set about reducing the deficit with some quality batting.

It was a tremendous contest that was swinging to and fro and was real edge of the seat entertainment. That was of course, until the deluge came and the entertainment vanished to be replaced by the sight of the rain bouncing off the covers and the talking heads in the studio consulting the Duckworth/Lewis charts. England were awarded the spoils courtesy of a logarithm chart, a calculator and Carol Vorderman! They were victorious by a solitary run but it was a sad way to win a great game.

Finding a fitting end to a weather affected limited over contest is an old chestnut, 'old chestnut' being the euphemism for a problem for which a satisfactory solution has yet to be found. That is certainly the case in one day cricket. There are a number of potential solutions out there and the D/L method is currently considered to be the best of a bad bunch. It's time to improve the quality of suggestions and come up with a more meaningful and relevant way to decide an international contest. It was tragic that a contested being enjoyed by millions worldwide had to end in such a manner.

Cricket is not alone, many other sports face the same challenge. The footballing authorities are often lambasted for relying on penalty shootouts to decide crucial matches. Rugby and American Football have encountered similar problems and their solutions are not to everyone's taste although the NFL's 'next point the winner' is widely accepted as being half decent.

The example to all should be the Lawn Tennis Association. Wimbledon's attitude to deadlock is 'keep playing until there is a result!' The authorities at SW19 possess a magical trait that should be embraced by the governing bodies of other sports - flexibility! Nothing is set in tablets of stone. If a schedule needs shifting - they shift it - if an extra day is needed to complete matches they extend the tournament.

England aren't exactly pushed for time, they're in South Africa until 18th January! The game could have been finished off at some stage, they could have come back the following morning or they could have stayed out there in the pouring rain and adapted to the conditions. Both teams could have waited until three 3:30 in the morning when the rain had eased and carried on! Anything has to be better than deciding one of the best games ever seen in the Twenty20 format by a mathematical equation!

It was still a fascinating weekend of cricket. South Africa produced two tremendous innings which included a formidable performance on Sunday from Loots Bosman who came so close to scoring a century before perishing on 96. England did what England do these days, blow hot and cold. They were excellent on Friday but completely outplayed on Sunday.

However, the English showed that when they are on their game they will be a test for the South Africans. The ODI series starts on Friday. England were priced at around [3.15] going into both Twenty20s and it looks like that trend will continue in the 50 over format with a match being possible at [3.2]. England may not win the series but are likely to run the South Africans close and have every chance of winning one or two of the contests and any price bigger than [3.0] represents value.

Let's hope the matches are decided by leather upon willow and not fingers upon calculators!

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