Proteas assistant coach, Russell Domingo, believes the young bowling attack will learn from their challenging experiences after the Proteas' three-wicket loss to Bangladesh in the T20 Triangular at the Harare Sports Club on Friday. Bangladesh reached the winning total with one ball to spare, and capitalised on some of the mistakes made by the young Proteas bowlers.
“We have a few young guys that have just started, Morris has just started and De Lange has played maybe 10 T20 matches in his career, both for the Titans and South Africa,” said Domingo.
“It's still a learning process and it's not something that they intentionally try to do, it is something that we are aware of and will improve. It's a concern, but it is not something that we will lose major sleep over because we know we will get it right in time.”
The bowlers conceded 20 extras, and there were two dropped catches but they brought the game back well to take it to the final over. De Lange picked up 3 for 25, with Wayne Parnell bowling with good intensity for his 2 for 18. Robin Peterson and Faf du Plessis excelled in the conditions, and went for 21 runs respectively in their four-over spells.
The Proteas play Zimbabwe in a must-win encounter on Saturday, the ideal preparation according to Domingo.
“I don't think we can do any technical preparations, its more about the mindset and making sure that guys are fresh and well recovered tomorrow morning. We know it's a must-win game for us and it's a great situation for us because it is the ideal preparation for the pressure that we will experience in the months to come.”
Justin Ontong provided the lone resistance in the South African batting line-up, scoring a gritty 41 off 36 balls in the final total of 129 for 7, which was below par. The slow conditions and tight bowling from the Bangladeshi spinners, particularly Abdur Razzak and Elias Sunny exposed the Proteas' batsmen, a lesson Ontong thinks will help the squad in the future.
“We're taking it as a positive,” Ontong said.
“We are definitely going to get conditions like that in the World Cup so the sooner we learn how to play on these wickets the better. We have to adapt quickly and read the situation quickly and play a bit of smart cricket. I think boundaries are very hard to come by, we need to run well between wickets and build up some good partnerships.” – Sapa