England captain Stuart Broad admits there is no point in demanding his players take part in extra practice sessions after their crushing Twenty20 defeat against South Africa.
Broad’s side were beaten by seven wickets in Durham on Saturday and have litle time to recover before facing the South Africans again in the second game of the three-match T20 series in Manchester on Monday.
With the end of a long, gruelling international campaign in sight, Broad doesn’t believes there is any extra value to be gained from putting his players through their paces in compulsory net sessions before the Old Trafford clash.
Instead, he believes it could be just as valuable to have time to recharge mentally and physically, especially since England will head off for the defence of their World Twenty20 crown less than 24 hours after Wednesday’s final T20 showdown with the Proteas in Birmingham.
“It’s a tricky time of year,” Broad said. “You don’t want to be netting all the time, because we’ve had quite a long cricket season; you’ve got to actually manage your time well.
“Whether going to the nets and doing certain things is the best thing to do, we’ll have a discussion about; or whether getting away and actually having a think about what we do (is better).”
Broad knows England’s poor batting in their last two limited-overs matches, which both ended in defeat against South Africa, must improve.
Ravi Bopara’s struggles have been most notable, but a succession of his team-mates got out to poor shots, or poor judgement.
Yet Board will leave it to individuals how best to turn things round.
“The boys have hit a lot of balls this summer,” he said. “Maybe this was a mental switch-on, to someone batting through and taking responsibility.
“Whether hitting more balls is a good option, we’ll have a look.”
