England may have drawn 1-1 in the two-match Twenty20 International series against South Africa, but they have definitely had the worse of the two games. I watched the first game in Johannesburg and I know from my own experience that if the wicket is good at the Wanderers then you are going to need a massive score to win the game. After the first over the other night, it was clear it was a belter of a wicket and we batted very well to get over 200.

The highlight for me, again, was the performance of Eoin Morgan. It was a spectacular innings and this boy has obviously got something about him. He was playing strong shots and he is obviously a strong lad because he is hitting the ball a long way. I also liked the way he hit the ball where there were gaps in the field and he also has his own little range of improvisations with flicks here and flicks there.

If you’re looking ahead to next year’s ICC World Twenty20 tournament, England’s batting has a good look to it. Morgan looks like he could be a key player, Jonathan Trott has come in and looked good, Kevin Pietersen is now back in the side, there is the experience of Paul Collingwood and hopefully Andrew Flintoff will be fit enough to play again. The nucleus is there for a good batting line-up, but what the selectors have to find is someone for the top of the order to get the innings off to a good start.

I am not sure Alastair Cook is the answer and I would question whether he deserves his place in the Twenty20 squad. By giving him the captaincy for the second Twenty20 international, it put even more pressure on him at a time when he’s struggling to establish himself in the side as it is. I like the look of Joe Denly, England’s other opener, but this coming one-day international series is important for him. He has not made a major contribution yet because he needs to start scoring some runs. Another player the selectors could look at is Somerset’s wicketkeeper-batsman Craig Kieswetter, who qualifies for England before the ICC World Twenty20 and is used to opening the batting in Twenty20 cricket for Somerset.

I have more concerns about England’s bowling line-up. England scored 202 for six in that first Twenty20 international, a good score, and if it wasn’t for the weather interrupting and the Duckworth-Lewis regulations kicking in, I believe we would have lost. In the second match, for South Africa to score 241 in 20 overs is not a good sign for our attack. The plans we have laid down look the same for everybody with very little variation and at the moment it doesn’t look like there is a lot of thinking on their feet by the England bowlers. When Plan A is not working, you quickly need a plan B or C in international cricket and that is what makes the difference between a good county player and an international cricketer.

The fact they do not seem to be doing that is a big concern, although they are without Flintoff and Stuart Broad and Graham Onions are injured at the moment and they would all strengthen England’s bowling options. Adil Rashid possibly came on at the wrong time in the second Twenty20 match and was hit for 25 in his one over and, to me, he still has a lot to do to break through into international cricket. He has bags of potential, but as a leg-spinner it is going to be hard for him to establish himself, particularly as Graeme Swann is doing a good job as the main spinner.

England’s biggest problem is that now these two Twenty20 matches against South Africa are finished, they have no competitive Twenty20 matches until they start their warm-ups for the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean next April. They will need to have a close look at these 50-over matches to try and nail down one or two other places so they know their best team for that tournament.