Johannesburg — So do the Proteas continue with a bouncer barrage for the final One-Day International against Bangladesh at SuperSport Park on Wednesday?
The obvious answer is, yes. It worked a treat in the second match, reducing Bangladesh to 34/5 in 13 overs and then life was made difficult for the remaining batters, who struggled — for the most part — to score. Continuing with that method is dependent on conditions in Centurion however.
Kagiso Rabada, who took 5/39 at his home ground, made the point that both SuperSport Park and the Wanderers had good bounce, the crucial difference was that at the ‘Bullring’ the pace off the surface was much quicker.
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As a result the Bangladeshi batters didn’t have time to play at the Wanderers. However South Africa too, having not had a quicker surface to work on in the first match, didn’t make the necessary adjustments there. The captain Temba Bavuma was critical of his bowlers after the first match, and will hope that they will be quicker to adjust their strategies should that be required.
Bangladesh’s batters would have been aware that they’d get bounced when they came here. “You don’t rock up and expect to bounce out a team but you will use that tactic to the best of your ability,” said Rabada. “The talk is that sub-continent teams wouldn’t be able to deal with the extra bounce the way we would, because we have grown up here, and vice-versa, they are well prepared to play well in their conditions. Conditions play a huge role, at home we will try and exploit what we know we can exploit.”
Bangladesh will be better prepared on Wednesday however. Their batters especially are a tough and experienced unit, and they will know how to manage a bouncer strategy from the South Africans.
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Rabada and especially Lungi Ngidi were much better at sustaining their lines and lengths on Sunday. It was a pity for Wayne Parnell that his match lasted just 13 balls. He was the perfect foil to the two new ball operators, as with his slightly fuller length, he got the ball moving nicely off the surface, dismissing Mushfiqur Rahim with a beautiful delivery that held its line and hit the batter in front of the stumps.
South Africa’s batting also looks much better with Quinton de Kock at the top of the order and if it wasn’t the case before this series, he will definitely be occupying much of the Bangladeshi talks before Wednesday’s decider.
Kyle Verreynne pushed Aiden Markram further out of the One-Day side with a polished half-century and coming off the back of his maiden Test century, he is making a big enough impression that a long stay in the Proteas team — in different formats — looks to be on the cards.
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The one concern for the home side is the injury Bavuma picked up while bowling, when he divided into Mehidy Hassan at the non-striker’s end while trying to stop a single and bruised his right hand. Bavuma did spend nearly an hour at the crease to score 37, and there was no signs of discomfort, but he said afterwards he’d be going for scans ahead of Wednesday’s decider.
Sunday’s victory helped the Proteas to leapfrog Pakistan into ninth place on the ICC Super League log, which still leaves them out of the automatic World Cup qualifying spots. A win on Wednesday would lift them over the West Indies into eighth. The Proteas need to finish in the top eight to secure an automatic berth in next year’s World Cup and avoid the drama of a pre-tournament qualifying tournament.
IOL Sport