Cape Town - The South African cricket team certainly set high standards for themselves judging by senior player JP Duminy’s view that the tourists are still searching for “the perfect game”.
This attitude could prove ominous for hosts, West Indies, in Friday evening’s winner-takes-all Tri-Series clash at the Kensington Oval, considering that the Proteas ran out victors by 139 runs the previous time these two teams met in St Kitts.
All the South Africa top-order batsmen played their part when they posted 343/4 in the allotted 50 overs. Hashim Amla led the way with his 23rd ODI century, while Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis contributed 71 and 73 runs respectively. Even pitch-hitter Chris Morris, who was promoted to the No 3 position, contributed a quick-fire 40 from just 26 balls.
And when it was the bowlers turn, they spun the Windies into oblivion with Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi wrecking havoc with the sum figures of 9/86 to dismiss the Windies for just 204 in 38 overs. Tahir’s individual haul was his record-breaking 7/45.
But as impressive as the numbers may read, after closer introspection into the match, Duminy’s beliefs are well-founded.
South Africa’s new-ball attack comprising of Wayne Parnell and Kagiso Rabada are a relatively inexperienced combination and followed up their dismantling of the world champion Aussies in Guyana with a limp performance against the Windies.
Many tend to forget that Rabada is still only 21 years old due to his impressive performances for the Proteas already, and that he could have an occasional off day at this stage of his fledgling international career while despite Parnell having celebrated his 50th ODI cap last week, he is virtually starting his international career afresh here in the Caribbean after a lengthy break.
The powerful Windies openers Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher are, though, batsmen that will not die wondering and they certainly muscled a few boundaries off both Parnell and Rabada as each was laced for 26 and 31 runs respectively off their opening three individual overs as the hosts raced to 58/0 after just six overs.
Testament to both players’ character was the way they returned to produce strong second spells, but Duminy believes it is paramount that the Proteas get off to a good start in conditions that are expected to be even friendlier to the batsmen.
“We see it as a semi-final, so we’re definitely up for it. Going on what the stats suggest, it (Kensington Oval) does lean to a better batting wicket. Whoever bats first - those first 15/20 over are going to be crucial - because it sets the platform for the game, especially in these kind of games where there is a little bit of extra pressure,” Duminy said.
“I think if you look back at our games we’ve been reasonably good in one area. We haven’t had a game where we’ve done well with bat and ball, so we searching for that perfect game. West Indies are playing really good cricket and they’ve batted really well in this tournament thus far.”
The Proteas are expected to haul out Morne Morkel for his first appearance in this Tri-Series - he was selected for the Australia match last Sunday but did not get a bowl after the match was abandoned after just one over due to rain - and will certainly add a great deal of experience to the bowling unit.
Morkel has long been South Africa’s standout pace bowler in limited-overs cricket and his ability to gain that steep bounce could prove to be just as troublesome for Charles and Fletcher in the same way as Australia’s Mitchell Starc was during the preceding match in Barbados.
Independent Media