Harry Brook was in no mood to dwell on England’s 15-run loss to South Africa in a first T20I that barely resembled a match. “It was a bit of a shambles really, wasn’t it?” the Yorkshire batter admitted after a night in Cardiff that yielded just 12.5 overs and very few clear conclusions.
The match finally began at 8.50 pm, more than two hours late, and was trimmed to nine overs a side. South Africa thumped 97 for 5 from 7.5 overs before the rain returned, leaving England with a DLS target of 69 from only five overs. Jos Buttler’s enterprising 25 off 11 balls offered brief hope, but England closed on 53 for 4. Brook’s own contribution was a four-ball duck, his first in T20 internationals.
Key decisions had already been taken before a ball was bowled. England withdrew Jofra Archer from the XI named 24 hours earlier, concluding that a sodden outfield posed an unnecessary risk to a bowler whose return has been carefully managed since his elbow troubles. Left-armer Luke Wood stepped in for his eighth cap and claimed 2 for 22, the pick of a home attack that struggled for rhythm on a skiddy surface.
“It would have been stupid to play him with the amount of cricket we’ve got coming up,” Brook said when asked about Archer. “If he’d have gone out in the boundary and done what Adam Hose did in The Hundred and broken his leg or whatever, that would have been a shambles.”
England’s assessment echoed private conversations across the dressing room. With an Ashes tour looming, caution over Archer trumped any short-term gain. The call appeared vindicated once the match was reduced. “As soon as we knew that the game was shortened, we didn’t think it was quite necessary for Jof to play,” Brook added. “Obviously, the outfield was sodden and he’s got a lot of cricket to play in the next few months with a big series coming up. So, yeah, we, we decided to not play him.”
Brook declined to criticise the officials for pressing on despite the interruptions. “That’s not for me to decide, that’s for the umpires or the match referee. We just try to do what we can on the field,” he said. Yet he freely conceded England’s execution had been off. “We probably didn’t execute as well as we should have done with bat and ball. It’s bloody hard when you only bat for five overs.”
With two matches still to come in the series, England have little choice but to treat the evening as an anomaly and move on quickly. A clearer forecast for the second match in Southampton should provide the chance for a more meaningful workout—and, perhaps, for Archer to re-enter the fray on firmer ground.
