Arthur not downbeat

South Africa coach Mickey Arthur didn't pull his punches after seeing England pile up 593 for eight declared on the second day of the first Test at Lord's here Friday.
"It was helluva disappointing," said Arthur. "We came here full of expectation and we haven't delivered."
But he insisted there was still plenty of time for the world's number two ranked Test side to bounce back in both this match and the four-Test series.
"The positive is that England have seen nowhere near the best of us," he said.
Ian Bell's Test-best 199 and South Africa-born Kevin Pietersen's 152 in his first Test innings against the Proteas formed the backbone of England's commanding total.
South Africa's quicks didn't help their cause by being too often short and wayward with only Morne Morkel (four wickets for 121 runs from 34 overs) having reason to be pleased with his efforts.
"We didn't get our lines and lengths right, bowled both sides of the wicket and it hasn't been great," Arthur said.
He added that England had been helped by coming into this match on the back of their recent 2-0 Test series win at home to New Zealand, while it had been nearly two months since South Africa drew a Test campaign in India.
"You could see England have been playing hard Test cricket for the last couple of months and we haven't. The gap was glaring.
"But there's three days to go in this match and it's a long series."
Bell was under pressure after making just 45 runs in his last four Test innings and with Andrew Flintoff, on the brink of full fitness, waiting to replace someone in the England team.
Both points were not lost on Arthur, who highlighted each of them in the build-up to this match.
"I put the kiss of death on him didn't I?," Arthur joked. "We wanted to put him under pressure and we gave him four half-volleys to kick-start his innings. But hats off to him, he delivered."
South Africa will resume on seven without loss and Arthur said: "It is going to be really interesting to see how we bat and how England bowl. We'll certainly be watching with interest."
Makhaya Ntini, now 31, finished with an analysis of none for 130 in 29 overs and looked a shadow of the fast bowler who returned match figures of 10 for 220 in South Africa's crushing innings victory at Lord's five years ago.
"Makhy's had a little bit of a topsy-turvy year but I'm confident he'll get it right," Arthur said.
It was easy to criticise Graeme Smith's decision to field first but Arthur said the South Africa captain had been let down by his pacemen.
"Unfortunately, we bowled both sides of the wicket and we couldn't seem to build any pressure.
"As a bowling unit, you've got a problem if you do that and sometimes it makes the captain look a little bit stupid with the fields he sets."
But Arthur was adamant South Africa, without the now-retired Shaun Pollock and missing the likes of Charl Langeveldt, could adjust to English conditions.
"These guys can change their lengths. They've done it in practice. We've set targets for what an English length is and they've invariably hit them."
An upbeat Arthur insisted: "I am going to write off this innings. If a trend develops through the series then it will become a worry. But I am sure we can turn it around.
"Our execution was poor, the players have admitted it themselves. Our strategising and planning was 100 per cent correct, it was just our execution that was lacking."