Proteas hoping to avoid Pink Day blushes
SA have to display the fighting qualities they showed a year ago
Slightly less muted than last year, Pink Day will arrive in only some of its splendour at the Wanderers today.
A year ago fans weren’t allowed into the “Bullring” and this time 2,000 or so will make their way along Corlett Drive for what is a must-win clash for the Proteas.
It is the home side that has to rally if they want to avoid defeat in the three-match ODI series after being handed a 38-run defeat by a tigerish Bangladesh in Centurion on Friday night.
They will have to display the same fighting qualities from a year ago in the corresponding fixture when they levelled the ODI series against Pakistan despite Fakhar Zaman’s record-breaking efforts.
They also displayed fine fighting spirit in 2018 when they went into Pink Day three-nil down in the series against India. On that day they engineered a five-wicket win.
Generally, the hosts have a very good record in the Pink Day clashes. They had a sixmatch unbeaten run before Pakistan snapped it in 2019. They lost to England the following year before beating Pakistan last year.
While Mark Boucher and his coaching team will draw from the team’s admirable fighting qualities after they went behind in recent white and red ball series, they will have to turn things around rapidly if a series defeat is to be avoided.
Their defeat to the Tigers would have left the coaching staff with searching questions, not least who they will press into action at the Wanderers to restore the balance in the series.
At Centurion only one team looked driven and focused.
The Tigers clawed lumps out of the South African attack on Friday as a lack of application and intensity dogged them throughout the visitors’ stint at the crease. That the attack lacked intensity was evidenced in the number of boundaries the tourists were able to spank off the last ball of the over.
On the batting front the home team will have to avoid being tied down in the Powerplay. On Friday it meant the already imposing total became a pipe dream early on in the chase.
Of course all round improvement is what the hosts are really in search of.
“Sunday is a must-win game for us. We have to up our game in all departments,” noted captain Temba Bavuma after his team’s first ever home defeat to Bangladesh.
It may require the hosts to make some bold calls in selection. The Proteas will, among others, need a vast improvement from the underachieving Aiden Markram and Andile Phehlukwayo, both recent recipients of national contracts. The latter’s six wides and a no ball undermined the team’s efforts at Centurion.
Markram’s search for form at international level is starting to torment.
If changes are to be made, the introduction of Quinton de Kock and Dwaine Pretorius ought to be high up the brains trust’s list.
De Kock was left out of the first ODI because of illness and it is not clear whether he will be fit in time for the Pink Day clash. Official word is he is “undergoing a graduated return to play programme after a recent illness.
His progress is being monitored by the medical team and a decision on his fitness to play will be made before the second ODI.”
Given how they started their innings in Centurion, SA need his dare and dash at the top of the order.
Pretorius is an underrated and canny operator whose talents are perhaps best suited to the “Bullring”.
Even if the Wanderers wicket isn’t conducive to spin, Tabraiz Shamsi’s white ball craft shouldn’t entirely be measured by the available assistance from the surface. He finds ways of asserting himself but it is unlikely that a twin spin approach will be introduced on this surface.
Either way, SA have it all to do. They showed wonderful resolve to claw back series deficits in the Tests and ODIs against India, as well as the Test series against New Zealand.
The problem they have on this occasion is that they allowed the highly enthused Tigers to get their tails up and now it is they who have to react like caged beasts.
Sunday is a mustwin game for us. We have to up our game in all departments