England were going through their pre-match routines, having throw downs, catching practice and the like before facing Zimbabwe. Suddenly, they stopped and huddled around a figure lying, clearly in pain, on the outfield. It was serious enough, too, for the England medical team to signal for a stretcher.
Binoculars were quickly called into action to try and identify the injured party; which player it was? What impact on England's plans? Slowly each name was ticked off, then the answer arrived. Andy Flower, the batting coach, who had divided loyalties on the day, was the unfortunate person to go down and it was later confirmed as a serious calf strain. His adopted team will have eased the pain with their 50-run win, unless he was supporting Zimbabwe.
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The scoreboard at Newlands had a few problems with its display. Was it struggling to keep up with Kevin Pietersen's innings?
© Andrew McGlashan
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Newlands is about 20 minutes from the centre of Cape Town so it's a taxi ride before and after each game. Coming out of the ground after England's win over Zimbabwe, a taxi pulled up, but it already had two passengers so I presumed it wasn't mine. Then the driver got out and asked if I'd booked a car back into town before explaining he'd picked up this couple at the traffic lights, before the stadium, then realised they weren't his correct collection. But we were all heading in the same direction so it wasn't a problem and there was an amusing journey with Jonny and Sarah who had certainly been enjoy the Newlands hospitality.
Jonny was clearly struggling a little and made a valid point. "There's not much time to recover between these matches." And he wasn't talking about the players. He'd watched Australia beat Zimbabwe yesterday evening before returning for today's game. He also has tickets for England-Australia on Friday and said: "It could be a struggle, but it's great fun. The Aussies tried to steal the Barmy Army song in the first game, so we are going to get it back." Sounds like a battle on and off the pitch.
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The scoreboard at Newlands had a few problems today. Maybe it was struggling to keep up with Kevin Pietersen's innings or, like the rest of us, was still trying to digest Zimbabwe's win over Australia. Whatever the reason, for the first part of England's innings and again during Zimbabwe's run chase it was in its own little world. The score went round in multiples, for example 111, 222, 333. It was somehow apt, then, when it landed on 666. England, thanks to Pietersen, were certainly rocking at the time and it wasn't only the dancers who agreed.
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