Thorpe warns stumbling England

Warning: Graham Thorpe

David Lloyd|Evening Standard|In Potchefstroom

14 April 2012

Graham Thorpe admitted today that England will have to dip deep when they enter the Test arena in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

But the team's oldest and longest serving batsman has also stressed there is no need to fret too much about their lack of form.

England's preparations for the First Test went badly awry here when they lost to South Africa's second string by seven wickets.

Even worse than the result, key batsmen like Thorpe and Mark Butcher failed twice with the bat while strike bowler Steve Harmison struggled for rhythm.

"We knew it was going to be tight in terms of getting our games in order," said Thorpe.

"A few of us would have liked to have spent more time at the crease. The fact is we haven't.

"The next few days we are going to have to dig deep into the memory bank and work hard. Ideally, we would have liked to have left 50 or 60 balls, tucked a few off our legs, hit a few cover drives and known everything was hunky-dory. But that's not the case."

England's bubbling team spirit has been obvious over the past year. But, as captain Michael Vaughan remarked, there was a distinct lack of atmosphere during this week's three-day game.

"If we were lacking anything, we were lacking intensity," Thorpe said. "The important thing is that we come together and fight together. When we get into the Test some of us are going to have to scrap hard."

A week ago England were strongly fancied to win the opening match, thereby establishing a record eighth straight Test success.

The odds may have changed a little now and South Africa's batsmen are preparing for their date with Harmison by facing a former junior Wimbledon tennis champion. Coach Ray Jennings has hired Wesley Whitehouse to hit serve at Graeme Smith and Co in the nets.

"They have to get used to the bounce and it will help with their reflexes," Jenniings said. But Jennings has a few other worries. Spin bowler Nicky Boje is still recovering after having a cancerous growth removed, Boeta Dippenaar has food poisoning and wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile has tonsillitis.

Meanwhile, the England and Wales Cricket Board are this week discussing proposals for future domestic television coverage.

Contractual arrangements for the period between 2006 and 2008 is high on the agenda at Lord's. The existing agreement splits Test coverage between Channel 4 and BSkyB. One of two new bids on the table is an exclusive deal with the latter, reportly worth an extra £20million a year.

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Thorpe warns stumbling England

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