Proteas in good hands
Coach Kirsten full of praise for creative, enthusiastic AB
IN HIS first stint as Proteas limited-overs captain, AB de Villiers has had a good run of success with the team as they enter their fourth ODI undefeated in the series.
There has, however, been speculation that De Villiers’ penchant for repositioning the field may soon cause trouble for the team with regard to over rate, as it did for India captain MS Dhoni.
But Proteas coach Gary Kirsten said yesterday that these moves were among the things that made de Villiers a very promising prospect as team leader.
Kirsten said that he had been greatly encouraged by how well the wicketkeeper had taken to the captaincy role and added that his collaboration in the field with the bowlers seemed to be paying off.
“AB has been very creative with his field placing in the series and I think this is very exciting as we aim to develop our squad,” said Kirsten.
“He has been giving the bowlers far more responsibility with regard to how they want their field set and I think he is enjoying his job as captain. He is a very enthusiastic person and I think he has brought a freshness to the team.”
With Graeme Smith on hand to offer support to the skipper, Squads for Kimberley SOUTH AFRICA: Graeme Smith, Alviro Petersen, Colin Ingram, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers (captain), Faf du Plessis, Albie Morkel, Robin Peterson, Wayne Parnell, Vernon Philander, Morné Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Johan Botha. SRI LANKA: Tillakaratne Dilshan (captain), Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Kosala Kulasekara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dilhara Fernando, Rangana Herath, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Sachithra Senanayake. Kirsten believes that Proteas are in good hands.
Despite the absence of the likes of Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and now Dale Steyn, the coach believes that things are really looking promising as a number of less experienced players are given an opportunity during this five-match series which South Africa lead 3-0.
“I want to be comfortable with who our best closers are in the team, we are going to mix it up,” said Kirsten. “We are going to rotate it a bit and the left-hander/right-hander combination also plays a very important role in certain aspects. It is important to get the players comfortable with it (rotation) and they are warming to it very quickly.
“JP Duminy did it brilliantly for us in East London, Faf du Plessis did it brilliantly in Bloemfontein, and I’m
the getting excited by seeing those guys wanting to embrace those moments (pressure situations). Those are the little key battles in games that we want to win, and if you win those battles you end up, more times than not, winning the game.
“It’s important that we develop players and that we do have a squad of 17 players that we can pick from at any time, because it allows for us to rotate better and allows us to rest players that we think need rest because we know that the guys have got the experience and they are equally good to be able to go and make a play out in a certain game.”
This concept has paid dividends in the series to date and Kirsten said that his greatest restriction at this stage was that there was only room for 11 players in a team.
“We have far more to offer at this stage and I really wish that a side consisted of 14 or 15 men so that I could give as many players as possible a good run,” he added. “The Proteas at this stage have more to offer than just an 11-man team and it is great to know that we have a number of guys to fall back on at any given time.”
At the same time, the coach admitted that resting a number of players at this point was key, not only to give them a much deserved break but also to keep a variety of players ready to be called up as required.