Fine-tuning Seven man IPL contingent crucial for Proteas
IPL contingent hoping to serve the Proteas well
The performances of SA’s seven-man contingent set for duty in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will form part of the Proteas’ fine-tuning for next month’s T20 World Cup.
Before the T20 World Cup set for October 17 to November 14 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, Quinton de Kock, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, David Miller and Tabraiz Shamsi will show off their skills in the IPL.
Convenor of selectors Victor Mpitsang is hoping they can pick up form in that tournament and carry it onto the international stage.
“We have seven players in the IPL that starts on Sunday. They will play in those conditions in the build-up to the tournament,” said Mpitsang.
“There is a month of that before the World Cup starts so there is going to be traffic (on those wickets). By mid tournament we expect those wickets to turn. You actually don’t need the traffic. The wickets will turn there.”
Intriguingly, spin has increasingly crept into the SA lexicon.
Mpitsang believes the team has had sufficient exposure to the art of late. They haven’t just faced a lot of it, they’ve been keen purveyors.
“The conditions we faced in the West Indies will be similar to what we’ll face in the UAE,” he said in reference to the team’s T20 series win over the West Indies earlier this year.”
The team has since won T20 series against Ireland and Sri Lanka.
It was the series win in the West Indies that enthuses Mpitsang most.
“We could pick everybody for the West Indies. There were no restrictions. The way we performed and the fightback was very encouraging. How the team bounced back after the first T20 and how resilient they were to win the series was a remarkable effort.
“Our team needed to improve. There were areas that we needed to get better at and one of the things the coach spoke about was what do we do after the power play.
“It spun a lot and you had to capitalise on the first six and after that what do you do?”
He noted that previously the team had lost its way in overs seven to 12.
“We couldn’t continue the momentum. We saw in the West Indies the scoring after the power play just went lower. But the way we got over the line in those conditions was quite pleasing.”
He said the team performed well against Ireland but they didn't have things all their own way in Sri Lanka.
“I’m disappointed and I’m sure the team will be as well, with losing the ODI series in Sri Lanka because it was a big series for us. If we did one or two things differently we would have got over the line there.”
The area in which the team has had to sharpen their skills ahead of the World Cup was in the spin bowling department.
Despite the brouhaha over Imran Tahir’s exclusion from the squad the team will have Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj, Bjorn Fortuin, as well as the occasional offerings from Markram, as their tweaking options.
Slow left-armer George Linde counts among the travelling reserves.
Mpitsang noted the shift in emphasis in the SA attack.
“You will never see SA in a one-day game bowling more than 30 overs of spin,” said Mpitsang in reference to the 40 overs of spin with which SA confronted Sri Lanka in the last match of the recent ODI series.
“It just shows you where this team is at. The spinners that we picked we are comfortable with.
“In the personnel we picked, especially the allrounders that we selected, we tried to get the right balance.
“We played three spinners recently and given the conditions we are expecting the same at the World Cup.”