‘Not a second of complacency’
JOHANNESBURG: The pair of comprehensive one-day international wins against the world champions at the weekend must now be forgotten by the Proteas, as they turn their attention to trying to wrap up a series win in Durban tomorrow.
Captain Faf du Plessis is desperate for the South African team to keep looking forward, knowing that Australia, despite missing some key bowlers, remain a dangerous team. “It’s really important that we don’t for one second become complacent, because we know we are very far away from winning this series,” said Du Plessis. Much will be made of the absence of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, but the Australian ODI team has utilised a rotation policy for its quick bowlers in virtually every series since the 2015 World Cup and it has not had a major impact on the team’s performances.
Their winning ratio coming into this five-match series was 65% since they won their fifth World Cup title on home soil last year. They have lost just one series in New Zealand earlier this year. However the crop of seamers in the squad for this tour, lacked the necessary pace to make them dangerous on the Highveld.
In conditions, which Du Plessis expects will be different for the next three ODIs at the coast, perhaps the likes of Daniel Worrall, Joe Mennie and Chris Tremain will come into their own. Their lack of pace could make scoring harder and hopefully through that, Steve Smith will be able to build some pressure on the free-scoring SA top order.
Du Plessis said on Sunday night that SA wouldn’t be resting or rotating players until the series was won. Of course that does not include Hashim Amla, who was left out of Sunday’s starting team by convener of selectors Linda Zondi – a decision that did not sit well with Du Plessis and coach Russell Domingo.
The captain and coach will in all likelihood try to persuade Zondi again at Kingsmead that Amla’s class and experience means he should be in the starting XI and it need not necessarily be at the expense of Rilee Rossouw at the top of the order. If Amla is to be accommodated Dave Miller could be sacrificed, although Du Plessis is keen for the stylish left-hander to display his skills at the crease.
“I’m hoping that the middle order in Farhaan Behardien and David Miller will still make a huge impact in this series somewhere,” Du Plessis said. SA took advantage of the inexperienced Australian attack in Centurion and Johannesburg, first via Quinton de Kock’s bruising performance and then a more calculated dismantling by Du Plessis and JP Duminy at the Wanderers.
“We’ve been working hard on ensuring we score a boundary an over and then keep the scoreboard ticking the rest of the over. The aim is to take a risk where you feel you can, to hit gaps and for the rest try to keep getting ones. It makes it extremely hard for the bowling captain, because he doesn’t feel he has control of the game,” said Du Plessis, whose 111 at the Bullring featured 45 singles.
For their part, Australia are just hoping that their young bowlers quickly heed the lessons of the first two ODIs and adjust accordingly. However in addition, the tourists also need their best players to produce better. Whereas SA’s top four have scored two hundreds and three half-centuries, the Australian top four, comfortably the major strength in this team, have scored just the two fifties between them.