Proteas preparing for defining moments
THERE may be concerns about the composition of South Africa’s batting order and fragility of its fast bowlers leading up to the World Cup, but easily the greatest alarm is the standard of the Proteas fielding.
Long gone are the days when the team kitted in green and yellow set the standard on the international circuit. Yes, they were previously blessed with the freakish individual talents of Jonty Rhodes and Herschelle Gibbs, but the overall ability in the field was often the difference between winning and losing a tight one-day international due to their ability to save sometimes as much as 15 runs.
The current Proteas group is certainly not the benchmark any longer with even the subcontinent teams now possessing young and athletic fielders throwing themselves around in the inner ring and on the boundary.
Justin Ontong, who was also once a livewire in the outfield and cover point, and is now tasked with getting the Proteas up to scratch as the team’s fielding coach, has stressed that the issue is certainly being attended to ahead of next week’s opening game against hosts England at The Oval.
“Our preparation has been really good,” Ontong said from Cardiff where the Proteas are due to play Sri Lanka in a warm-up game tomorrow. “We are focusing on our catching. As we get closer to the game the guys will get tuned in.
“Everyone is very excited to be here. We had 10 days of preparation. We can’t wait for the tournament to start. From a coaching staff point, you obviously focusing on individual preparation, just topping up everyone so they (are) ready to go. Making sure everyone is happy. It’s about getting really close as a team going into that first game. It is a long tournament, so it’s about making sure everyone is on the same page.”
For all the drama of South Africa’s exit at the last World Cup after an epic semi-final in Auckland, there were two significant moments that stood out during New Zealand’s successful run-chase. The missed run out from AB de Villiers when the former skipper failed to cleanly gather a throw-in from Rilee Rossouw and the terrible mix-up between JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien in the penultimate over. With memories likes these to fall back on, Ontong is preparing his fielding unit to seize the moment when indeed it arrives over the course of the next two months.
“South Africa has always been in the top three teams in the world when it comes to fielding. Going into this World Cup, all teams are on par. It is about taking your opportunities when they are presented to you. That’s going to be really important. We are always working hard as a fielding unit. We take nothing for granted, because we know all the teams,” Ontong said.
“If you look at previous World Cups, there have always been defining moments in games. So, we know about those big moments. From my point of view, I try and prepare the guys to be ready for that.”