Proteas ready to bloom in Bloemfontein
ENGLAND teammates will not shake hands during their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka because of the coronavirus outbreak. Instead, they will greet one another with fist bumps, says captain Joe Root, pictured.
During their last tour of South Africa, England players suffered gastroenteritis and flu problems.
In fact, a situation had arisen where England were unable to field 11 fit players on the ground.
“After the illnesses that swept through the squad in South Africa, we are well aware of the importance of keeping contact to a minimum,” Root was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
“We are washing hands regularly and wiping down surfaces using the anti-bacterial wipes and gels we’ve been given in our immunity packs.”
The skipper said England “fully expect the tour to continue as planned” but the team is in regular contact with the authorities and would “proceed as advised”.
England are scheduled to play two Test matches in Sri Lanka from March 19 to 31.
Before that, the Three Lions will play two practice matches as well.
A number of sporting events have been postponed because of the virus, which originated in China.
More than 3 000 people have lost their lives across the globe due to the deadly disease while the number of confirmed cases has crossed 80 000 mark.
In India, at least three cases of coronavirus were reported on Monday. | IANS
THE Proteas will be looking to record back-to-back victories when they face off against Australia in the second match of the three-match ODI series in Bloemfontein this afternoon.
The Proteas proved that they may not be a one-man batting show heavily reliant on Quinton de Kock by convincingly beating the Aussies by 74 runs in the first ODI at Paarl on Sunday.
Following a rare failure by captain De Kock, who was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood for 15, Heinrich Klaasen, pictured, stepped up with the bat and played an innings of 123.
Klaasen was well supported by David Miller (64) and newcomer Kyle Verreynne (48).
An interesting fact is that the Proteas had three specialist wicketkeepers in the team in De Kock, Klaasen and Verreynne. Should De Kock want to give up the keeping in order to focus on his batting and captaincy, coach Mark Boucher will not be short of options to replace him behind the stumps.
In the absence of star pace bowler
Kagiso Rabada who has had to miss the series through injury, Lungi Ngidi rose to the occasion by registering excellent figures of 3/30 from eight overs, which included the wickets of David Warner, Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh.
Whilst Ngidi was the pick of the bowlers, all the Proteas bowlers were impressive as none went for more than six runs per over which is a rarity in cricket today. Keshav Maharaj, who returned to the limited overs team for the first time in more than three years, had a decent return of 1-48 from 10 overs, notching the prized wicket of South African-born Aussie Marnus Labuschagne who was the world’s top scorer in Test cricket last year.
In spite of their victory, the Proteas can ill afford to rest on their laurels. Australia certainly have enough strength in depth to bounce back strongly.
Proteas One-Day Squad v Australia Quinton de Kock (captain, wicketkeeper, Imperial Lions), Temba Bavuma (Imperial Lions), David Miller (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), George Linde (World Sports Betting Cape Cobras), Andile Phehlukwayo (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Tabraiz Shamsi (Momentum Multiply Titans), Lungi Ngidi (Momentum Multiply Titans), Beuran Hendricks (Imperial Lions), Heinrich Klaasen (Momentum Multiply Titans), Janneman Malan (World Sports Betting Cape Cobras), Jon-Jon Smuts (Warriors), Anrich Nortje (Warriors), Lutho Sipamla (Warriors), Keshav Maharaj (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Kyle Verreynne (World Sports Betting
Cape Cobras)