England may be the world Twenty20 champions, but they will travel to Sri Lanka later this week to defend their title as rank outsiders unless they can manage a huge improvement in the remaining two matches of this warm-up series against South Africa.
It was one of those days when the absence of Kevin Pietersen, the man of the tournament when Paul Collingwood's team won England's first major limited-overs trophy in the Caribbean in 2010, loomed large as an unavoidable talking point – as will be the case in all England defeats, especially those in which the batting flops, for as long as the current impasse remains.
One group of supporters had fastened "Kevin Who?" placards to their T-shirts, which ensured them of plenty of television exposure early in the afternoon, although they were not sighted later on, perhaps joining the rush for the exits as South Africa completed a routine win.
On a sticky pitch surprisingly similar to those that await in Sri Lanka, England crumbled to 85 for seven, with another failure for Ravi Bopara raising the most worrying questions for the selectors. Despite a valiant late rescue act by Graeme Swann and the captain, Stuart Broad, they ended with their third-lowest total in 46 T20 internationals.
Steven Finn, with a couple of deliveries that exceeded 90mph, and Jade Dernbach briefly lifted the spirits of a sparse crowd – almost 50% down on the full house that watched a 50-over match against Australia here earlier this summer – by reducing South Africa's reply to 26 for three. But even after omitting Hashim Amla, who had steered them serenely out of a similar position in the last match of the 50-over series at Trent Bridge last Wednesday, the Proteas had just the man to repair their innings with a minimum of fuss in Jacques Kallis, the 36-year-old phenomenon who had already claimed an athletic catch and an accurate run-out in addition to bowling three tidy overs.
He ended unbeaten on 48 from 43 balls, hitting the winning run with one over to spare. JP Duminy, another low-profile but vital cog in this South Africa machine, proved the perfect partner.
It would not be a major cricket tournament if the Proteas did not travel with great hope of finally shedding their reputation as chokers. But they handled great expectations effortlessly in displacing England from the top of the world Test rankings, they have a good recent record on the subcontinent – and in Kallis, they have a stalwart who would richly deserve to celebrate success at last.
England had started with promise, Alex Hales picking up where he left off with 99 in the win against West Indies in their last T20 international by taking a couple of boundaries from Robin Petersen's opening over of left-arm spin, and Craig Kieswetter emerging from a dodgy start to strike Lonwabo Tsotsobe for two fours and a six in the third over.
But Hales ran himself out for 11, reacting too slowly after Kieswetter did not respond to a call for a quick single, to start a steady and sorry procession as England floundered against the variety and quality of South Africa's attack.
Johan Botha, the 30-year-old off-spinner who has battled back after being banned for an illegal bowling action in 2006, had Kieswetter lbw with his first ball, and claimed the crucial scalp of Eoin Morgan, bowled off the bottom edge as he slogged against the spin.
Sandwiched between those wickets was another disappointment for Bopara. Dale Steyn, who conceded six runs in his first three overs and was named man of the match, was too good for him, as he had been in the last 50-over contest between these teams at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, and twice in the first Test at The Oval back in July before Bopara took time out for personal reasons. Since his return, he has scored 34 runs from eight innings, and it is 56 in 11 going back to that Oval Test – horrendous statistics from a player whom England really need to prosper in Pietersen's absence, as he did in this summer's one-day series against Australia.
After Morgan's dismissal, it was down to the young guns to rebuild. But Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow failed this test and fell in consecutive overs from Petersen and Albie Morkel, and when Samit Patel was brilliantly taken by Kallis running in from long-off, the game was effectively up. "There were some soft dismissals in there," said Broad. "Maybe today it was a mental switch-on, to say that someone has to bat through and take responsibility. We need to put that right with a very short turnaround."
They head for Sri Lanka on Thursday, within 24 hours of this series ending at Edgbaston, with the second game at Old Trafford on Monday. Broad must be resigned to fielding plenty more questions about Pietersen before the title defence begins against Afghanistan in Colombo on Friday week.
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