Klaasen set for Newlands debut
RABADA: PROTEAS’ POOR FORM SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE
Klaasen set to make his debut at Newlands today.
Confidence is often the fuel that drives performance in top-level sport and the Proteas’ bowling spearhead, Kagiso Rabada, said yesterday that the team was doing their best to convince themselves they can bounce back from a 2-0 deficit as they take on India in the third match of their ODI series at Newlands in Cape Town today.
Injuries have left the home side with plenty of gaps in terms of experience, and their morale must have taken a massive knock at Centurion, where they didn’t just lose to India, they went down in flames in one of their worst ever performances in ODI history.
“We have a few problems, but not a lot. When you do badly, sometimes it feels like a lot more is going on than there really is. Failure happens, and it will happen again, but of course we hope to bounce back in the next game. We must just keep playing our natural game, that’s what is always being said.
“At the moment we’ll take either lots of people scoring runs and taking wickets, in other words the perfect game, or just individual brilliance. We see where we’ve gone wrong and now we’re looking to turn the momentum over. We clearly haven’t come to the party yet, which is unacceptable.
“It doesn’t help that our set-up has had changes and we haven’t found our best form, so we are still trying to catch up. When you’re winning, you don’t ask many questions of yourself, but when you’re losing, it’s tough to find answers. We need to speak the right language in our minds, be strong mentally and go out and strive to perfect our skills out on the pitch. We must stay positive because anything can happen,” Rabada said.
Quinton de Kock, who has looked particularly short of confidence against India, has become the latest player to be ruled out by injury and, with Heinrich Klaasen being the only other wicketkeeper/batsman in the squad, he is almost certain to make his international debut today.
The 26-year-old has been in superb 50-over form for the Titans, scoring five half-centuries in 11 innings, averaging 52.20 at a strikerate of 94.05.
Newlands has been South Africa’s most successful ground in ODIs, with an 85% win record, but a change in plan for this series has now become necessary. Farhaan Behardien, who has also enjoyed a brilliant Momentum One-Day Cup campaign (437 runs @ 48.55, SR 92.58, 5x50), has to surely be recalled to provide more experience to the batting line-up.
That will mean the fifth ration of 10 overs will have to be shared between the part-timers, but the batting has been the problem for the Proteas, not so much the bowling.