³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

South Africans really enjoy sporting success and their radio and television presenters don't exactly hide their patriotism. If you flick around the numerous Super Sport or SABC Sporting channels you tend to see sports hosts dressed in South African rugby or cricket tops. Rising TV and radio cricket commentator Gareth Flusk was proudly wearing his South African cricket top to broadcast at Newlands.

Although the defeat in the rugby had been widely predicted, I actually turned up at the ground in Cape Town feeling fairly optimistic that our cricketers could gain some revenge.

And for a time England's bowlers looked to have the match under control. Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff all looked very impressive but it was England's fielding which cost them dear. If you were being harsh you could say seven potential opportunities went begging and the mix up between Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah was frankly embarrassing. I feel really sorry for who had two chances dropped in his only over in the tournament so far, I hope for him that he gets another opportunity.

So far have not had the best of times. Like Snape, James Kirtley has only bowled one expensive over in the competition, Luke Wright has yet to come off and Darren Maddy was dropped for the South African game. Chris Schofield has had some success and who knows if it wasn't for a fielding mix-up he could have recorded impressive figures at Newlands with Morkel enjoying his reprieve and striking three huge sixes.

I spoke to the England coach Peter Moores on Saturday and he said it was very difficult to judge if the selectors had got the balance right between established international players and Twenty20 specialists. But to be fair they were in an impossible position. If the selectors had ignored the claims of Snape, Maddy and co we would all have questioned why they hadn't been given a chance.

Moores also spoke about how the medical team need to carefully manage the fitness of Andrew Flintoff. It is great to see Freddie back and bowling well , but at times he looks to be in real pain and I just hope all is well.

The England coach told me he was really enjoying his first tour in the job, a chance to spend with the players and really get to know them. Well he certainly has a challenge on his hands now with England needing to register wins against possibly India and New Zealand to reach the semi-finals.

The capacity Newlands crowd certainly enjoyed their evening. They relished giving Kevin Pietersen a hostile welcome playing against the country of his birth. And they enjoyed Pietersen's bizarre run-out where he lost his bat after a collision with Shaun Pollock. After the match Paul Collingwood questioned whether common sense should have prevailed and KP given not out, but Shaun Pollock made it clear it was accidental and just one of those things that happens.

Pollock told us that he has enjoyed making it two sporting wins over England in a couple of days. But he added "'I'm just glad we are not playing you at soccer now, I think we'd lose that one".

Anyway, despite this defeat, I hope you are enjoying our coverage of the World Twenty20. From now on every match in this tournament will be live on Five Live Sports Extra. Check bbc.co.uk/cricket for details of our coverage and the times of the matches.

And whilst you have your diaries out, I am delighted to confirm that the forthcoming One Day International and Test series in Sri Lanka will both be live on Five Live Sports Extra and Radio Four Long Wave.

After a couple of weeks coping with celebrating South Africans, I will be pleased to get to Sri Lanka !