Proteas are going to have to be on the mark against Australia
WARM-UP matches are funny things. When you win them, touring sides tend to say that everything is going along swimmingly, but they hold little relevant water if the result goes the other way. The Proteas’ warm-up match demise to the Prime Ministers’ XI, by four wickets, yesterday would have gone down like manna from heaven for the Australian public, who are looking for hasty retribution from their Easter visit to South Africa.
“It was not ideal,” Aiden Markram assessed after drawing the short straw and having to front up against the media after the tune-up in Canberra.
Not for the first time in this 201819 campaign, the Proteas were left with concerns about their top order. Quinton de Kock chopped on his very first ball, after coming off a period of rest against Zimbabwe.
The Proteas desperately want him – need him – at his potent best, because he provides an awful lot at the top of the order. That said, De Kock often scores in gluts, so the Proteas may figure that when it does come, it will be a flood of runs.
He was not alone in failure, however. There were three top-order ducks for the tourists to digest. With no Hashim Amla in the side, the stability at the very top still needs to be addressed. It was a trend that started against Zimbabwe, and it has continued in the warm-up.
South Africa had to again depend on the middle and lower order to put up the runs required to make a fist of it. David Miller (45) joined Markram (47) in making runs, while Dale Steyn (20) and Kagiso Rabada (28) gave the scoreboard a semblance of respectability. As it was, 174 simply wasn’t enough.
“We are going to have to be on the mark come the first ODI, and we have to be at the right intensity levels to deliver the goods,” Markram said of the third-gear display. “It is a good gauge for each person to see how much work needs to be done.”
Given all that is swirling around Australian cricket, which is even considering giving pardons to convicted ball-tamperers, SA can be sure to expect a frosty reception in Perth. Australians, even if they have turned over a new leaf, prey on weakness, and they will look to go hard at the currently brittle SA top crust.
What SA will bank on, of course, is that seeing the full-cream Australian unit in front of them will be motivation enough for the Proteas come Sunday. The first one-day international can’t come soon enough, because both teams have conflicting points to make.
Australia will be back home, for the first time since you know what, and their opponents happen to be the very team that launched a thousand apologies in the winter.