We can hold our heads high, says Tahir

JOHANNESBURG: There’ll be some pressure on Evan Flint ahead of tomorrow’s deciding T20 International between South Africa and Sri Lanka, to give the Proteas a surface more to their liking after the Wanderers served up a ‘sub-continent’ special which made the tourists feel at home.

Sri Lanka narrowly got across the line on Sunday and did not hide their pleasure at what Bethuel Buthelezi, the Wanderers’ groundsman produced - a bone dry surface assisting spin.

It made for an ugly spectacle - in terms of what T20 cricket usually demands although the final passages of play were dramatic owing to South Africa’s fighting spirit.

Flint will want some pace and bounce in his pitch at Newlands to help provide the strokemakers with a proper stage on which to perform. That one of the greatest stroke-makers of the modern era will be in the home-side’s line-up will only add to the expectation there’ll be on Flint to create something more suited to South Africa’s style.

AB de Villiers’ inclusion in the Proteas squad adds extra sparkle to the occasion as does the fact that he’s in form following a century for the Northerns semi-professional side against Easterns on Sunday.

The two sides arrived in Cape Town yesterday afternoon - the Proteas no doubt still a little miffed; at the Wanderers pitch, their own batsmen’s inability to properly adjust to its demands and then losing the game.

Sri Lanka, according to their coach Graham Ford took a huge boost in their confidence away from the three wicket win - “they have finally won a game.”

“Hopefully they can put it together (at Newlands), it will probably be different conditions, we’ll have to assess and there’ll be a couple of different players in the opposition team, but we’ll have to think there’s a bit of momentum going in our favour now,” Ford added.

One South African who was delighted with what the Wanderers pitch served up was Imran Tahir who claimed 1/14 and joked that it was first time he’d gone for less than 20 runs at the ‘Bullring’, - “it was good for me,” Tahir said with a smile.

Although disappointed with the result, Tahir didn’t feel it would adversely affect the relatively inexperienced South African side. “We are not feeling less confidence because of the loss,” said Tahir. “Everyone is really happy, with the way we fought in this game. We can hold our heads high and we will be ready for the challenge in the next game.”

“We’ve got a lot of young players in the team. The way they fought in (Sunday’s) game, South Africa’s future is looking really bright. You can see the guys handled the pressure really well, even though we had a small total. (Sri Lanka) only got it in the last over.”

It doesn’t take much to get Tahir excited and the return of De Villiers certainly has the leg-spinner smiling. “I know if I was captain, I wouldn’t be able to sleep the night before knowing I had him coming back,” said Tahir.

“We are very excited, why not, that’s the best player in the world.”