SA pacemen set for showdown with India’s big hitters
IT is no urban myth that the Waca was the quickest, bounciest pitch in the world. Batters used to break into a cold sweat the night before at the prospect of being physically harmed by hulking fast bowlers with handle-bar moustaches.
A visit to the Wild Wild West was not for the faint of heart.
But such is the modern world that change is inevitable, which left “the Westerners” with real anxiety that the legend would be lost somewhere along the way in the move across the Swan River to the new Perth Stadium.
Fortunately, the famous square remains intact, with the drop-in pitch assembled from the Waca soil and clay.
Fast bowlers still have the unadulterated pleasure of hurling the ball through at 150km/h and watching the wicketkeeper taking the ball above his head.
This is enough to get the blood pumping through the veins a bit faster, and – coupled with the prospect of a rip-roaring 60 000 crowd transforming the Perth Stadium into a gladiatorial coliseum for South Africa’s T20 World Cup showdown with India today – it is no wonder Anrich Nortje is trying not to let it all bubble over.
“I think what we’ve seen the last few games, it’s been a really good wicket. Lots of pace and bounce. So, on wickets like this, obviously, you have one bouncer over, so you have to try and just sort of time it properly and not get carried away,” Nortje, who has already sent down the second-fastest delivery of the tournament, told reporters
South Africa will also take confidence from the fact that they won’t be riding into town armed with Nortje’s sole pistol. The Proteas’ artillery is well stocked with Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, Lungi Ngidi and perhaps even Marco Jansen ready to confront India’s star-studded batting unit of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.
“We see ourselves as one of the best pace attacks there is. We definitely back ourselves,” Nortje said. “We have a great variety. We cover a lot of aspects.”
LIKELY TEAMS FOR PERTH STADIUM SOUTH AFRICA:
Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk),
Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj/tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi. INDIA:
Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel/axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh. Mohammed Shami.
Start: 1pm (SA time); TV: Supersport