PROTEAS QUICKS CAN LEARN FROM SHAMI |
FOR the past few years South Africa have sent a group of players over to India to learn more about playing in subcontinent conditions.
It has routinely been batsmen and spin bowlers, with even members of the Test squad like Dane Piedt, Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Theunis de Bruyn part of the most recent group that visited ahead of the current series.
Seldom, though, has there been any reason to send fast bowlers, with pace bowling regarded more as SA’s strength.
However, after Mohammed Shami’s lethal spell in the second innings of the first Test when the paceman claimed 5/35 to drive the hosts’ to a 203-run victory, Proteas captain Faf du Plessis believes the visitors could well learn a few lessons.
Proteas pace duo Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada claimed just three wickets in the entire Test.
“I spoke to one of our young bowlers and said to him that it’s a good learning opportunity for you to sit and watch what someone does when they’re on top of their game in home conditions,” Du Plessis said ahead of the second Test in Pune today.
“Just learn from (the use of) his angles of the crease and how does he reverse the ball. So yeah there’s definitely something to learn from.”
“There’s a huge intensity about his bowling. You are going to bowl short spells in the heat, but when you bowl you have to ensure that you bowl with a lot of intensity and maximize it.”
Both Rabada and Philander bowled particularly well with the new ball without much luck that allowed Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal to survive this testing period before progressing to a record 317-run opening stand.
The one criticism, though, that can be levelled at Rabada particularly was that he was still bowling his “fourth stump” line that is so effective in home conditions back in SA, but not in India where attacking the wickets reaps greater rewards.
“He’s a guy that hits the stumps a lot,” Du Plessis said, again pointing out Shami.
“That’s something from a bowling point of view, we have to make sure, we are better at. In the first innings especially, we bowled wide and therefore they scored frequently square of the wicket. So there are a lot of lessons to learn.”
The tourists have yet to finalise their line-up for the second Test, but it is likely that Philander and Rabada will have greater backup in the seam department this week.
Both Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje are in the squad with the latter being backed to make his Test debut at the expense of off-spinner Piedt.
“For me, it is about picking the team, trying to find guys who can win you matches. So we have to find out who are the guys that can pick (up) 20 wickets and who are the guys that can put up their hands and score runs,” Du Plessis said.
“Obviously, we didn’t get 20 wickets in the previous match and that is something we are trying to fix and get better at in this match.
“End of the day, that’s what wins you Test matches. Our thinking will be to pick players who will influence the game and win matches for the team.”