Proteas grateful for England thumping

South Africa slide towards defeat at Trent Bridge - and a 4-0 NatWest Series thumping - at the hands of England last year

South Africa coach Mickey Arthur believes his team are wiser thanks to a harsh lesson delivered by England.

The hotly-tipped South Africans begin their Super Eights phase of the World Twenty20 against the host country at Trent Bridge today, having been trounced in their previous limited-overs involvement on these shores.

England, then led by Kevin Pietersen, eased to a 4-0 win in the NatWest Series at the end of the 2008 summer, a result which gave the tourists a stiff reality check.

Ultimately, it led to a tactical re-think between the highly-respected Arthur and captain Graeme Smith.

"I think that one-day series we had here after winning the Test series was a blessing in disguise for us," Arthur said.

"It certainly forced myself and Graeme to sit back and do a lot of reflection – deciding on which way we wanted to go, what was going to be our brand going forward to 2011 and who were the players we were going to look at.

"We realised pace off the ball was going to be a major issue for us. With the team we had in England, we didn't have the ability to take pace off the ball.

Roelof van der Merwe savours a wicket during his man-of-the-match performance against New Zealand

"We realised we needed to grow our spin bowling department; we realised we needed to have batters who could bowl spin coupled with out-and-out pace bowlers.

"With Twenty20 in the sub-continent, I can't see your medium-pacers playing a major role – they are cannon-fodder in those conditions.

"You need guys who can bowl genuinely quick and take wickets and then you need the guys who can take the pace off the ball.

"I think we've got the balance right now, and I still think as a group we are probably the best fielding side in the world."

The Proteas possess genuine speed in new-ball duo Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell, all-rounders Jacques Kallis and Albie Morkel have been frontline bowlers in the Indian Premier League, and spinners Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe have excelled thus far here.

Van der Merwe was man of the match in the one-run over New Zealand at Lord's on Tuesday and will have a huge role to play in what appears to be a very competitive Group E.

In addition to England, South Africa face fellow 20-over heavyweights India and tournament wildcards West Indies.

"Whoever gets through this group has an advantage," said Smith. "They will have played really competitive cricket through the Super Eights and will probably be better for it going into the semi-finals.

"All the teams in our section face the same challenge and that's the reality of it."