Ken Borland

South Africa coach Russell Domingo believes his team is “one of seven or eight” that can win the ICC World T20, despite suffering a hiding at the hands of Australia in Centurion on Friday night to lose their T20 series 2-0.

The Proteas leave for Bangladesh on Saturday and play two warm-up games against Bangladesh A and Pakistan before opening their World T20 campaign against Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka on March 22.

“There are seven or eight teams that can win the T20 World Cup and we’re one of them,” Domingo told a press conference in Centurion after the loss to Australia by six wickets with five overs to spare.

“It’s not a bad way to go into the tournament because the pressure won’t be there of being one of a couple of obvious favourites. We need a couple of players to do well, to have outstanding tournaments, and for the team to do well in the big moments and then we’ll be right in contention,” Domingo told a press conference in Centurion after the loss to Australia by six wickets with five overs to spare.

Domingo brushed off concerns that South Africa’s performances against Australia were indicative of a loss of confidence in the team.

“We’ve played good T20 cricket in the last year-and-a bit so there’s no need to make drastic changes. T20 cricket does have a lot to do with confidence, but we’ve been to world cups before extremely confident … ’’

The coach said the return of injured fast bowlers Dale Steyn (hamstring) and Morne Morkel (shoulder) would make a huge difference to the side. Both pacemen are expected to be fit for South Africa’s warm-up games in Bangladesh.

“This series has provided some answers for us. It has shown the impact of not having Dale and Morne. You can’t buy that quality and experience and it has highlighted how important they are,” Domingo said.

The coach said they would “not be losing any sleep” over the decline in the fielding standards of the team because “we have always been a quality fielding unit”.

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/cricket/proteas/proteas-can-win-world-twenty20-1.1661838#.UzMf-6iSy9A

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis warned on Friday that nobody’s place was certain for the ICC World T20 after his side were hammered by six wickets with five overs to spare by Australia in their T20 international at Centurion.

South Africa leave for Bangladesh and the ICC World T20 on Saturday and will enter the tournament with little expectation judging by their recent form.

“Having guys in form will be really important if we’re going to do well in the T20 World Cup. If people aren’t on top of their game then we’ll definitely look at other options, nobody is a certainty,” Du Plessis told a press conference after the match.

Neither Dale Steyn nor Morne Morkel played in the T20 series against Australia and their stand-ins – the likes of Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Wayne Parnell and Beuran Hendricks – were unable to reproduce their domestic form against what Du Plessis described as “a powerhouse batting line-up”.

“Our bowlers made a lot of mistakes tonight – we bowled the wrong lines and lengths, but defending less than 130 makes it difficult for the bowlers. I wanted them to bowl as straight as possible, but there was way too much square-of-the-wicket strokeplay. But having Dale and Morne back will be a huge bonus,” Du Plessis admitted.

The captain also conceded that both the batting and fielding had not been up to scratch on Friday night.

“We made a lot of mistakes with the bat and we didn’t lay a good base for our big hitters; David Miller and Albie Morkel need to come in when we’re on top. The pitch was quite tough for the first six overs, but we need to adapt and getting out caught like we did was soft dismissals. It sums up our batting effort and nine times out of 10 you’re not going to win games with soft dismissals,” Du Plessis said.

South Africa have also been the international benchmark in terms of fielding, but since the departure of Rob Walter as the fielding coach, they have often looked lethargic and have not taken several crucial catches through the summer.

The one positive from the heavy defeat was the bowling of leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who took two for 21 in his four overs and showed that he certainly won’t be one of the passengers in Bangladesh.

“Imran bowled really well, which is a really good sign for us. He’s going to play a huge part in our success in the T20 World Cup, on those pitches, in those conditions,” Du Plessis acknowledged.

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South Africa were handed a six-wicket hammering with five overs to spare by Australia in the third and final T20 at Centurion on Friday, on the eve of their flight to Bangladesh for the ICC World T20.
Australia’s mix of seam and spin bowling flummoxed South Africa as they limped to 128 for seven after being sent in to bat.

Left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc immediately backed up Australia’s decision to field first as he bowled a maiden over first up and struck Quinton de Kock in the throat, before trapping Hashim Amla lbw for two in his second over.

Starc returned later to bowl Albie Morkel, who had briefly thrilled his home crowd with two sixes in his 18, with a brilliant yorker and was Australia’s most impressive bowler with an outstanding two for 16 in his four overs.

Spinners Glenn Maxwell and Brad Hogg were Australia’s other most successful bowlers with two wickets apiece.

De Kock was the one South African batsman to show some quality on a slowish pitch as he scored 41 off 40 balls before wrist-spinner Hogg ripped a delivery across him to have the left-hander caught behind.

South Africa, who leave on Saturday for the ICC World T20, will be concerned by their poor batting display, especially the quantity of balls hit straight to fielders.

Faf du Plessis (5), JP Duminy (13), AB de Villiers (11) and David Miller (2) were all dismissed in soft fashion as they stupidly picked out fielders with lofted strokes.

Tailenders Wayne Parnell (17*) and Beuran Hendricks (12*) spared some of the home team’s blushes as they added 25 for the eighth wicket in the last three-and-a-half overs.

Australia made an aggressive start to their run-chase as openers Aaron Finch and Cameron White (14) added 43 off 29 balls to leave a capacity crowd resigned to defeat.

Finch was not afraid to go the aerial route as he belted 39 off 27 balls and Shane Watson scored 35 off 28 balls as Australia cruised to victory.

South Africa had few ways of getting back into the contest, but leg-spinner Imran Tahir was their most effective option, taking two for 21 in his four overs, but his batsmen had left him with far too much work to do.

The home side were left to rue the rain disappearing from Gauteng as Australia dealt a heavy blow to their World T20 plans.

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The Unlimited Titans have made arguably the biggest strike in the domestic transfer market by securing the services of top-order batsman Dean Elgar for the next two seasons, chief executive Jacques Faul confirmed yesterday.

The Knights left-hander is on the verge of becoming a Test regular following the retirement of Graeme Smith and he has a first-class average of 43.69 and a List A average of 37.61, plus a strike-rate of 110.15 with a great average of 38.96 in T20 cricket.

“Dean is the kind of player we need at the Titans, he’s gutsy, well-respected in South African cricket and he gives it his all. He’s a helluva player in all three formats, but especially in four-day cricket. At the moment we’re playing guys who are averaging in the 20s, which is not what we want. Dean is a special player and he gives us lots of options,” Faul told The Pretoria News yesterday.

And it would appear to be a good bet that Elgar hits top form for the Titans because Smith’s absence has now given him the chance to cement a regular place for himself in the national team, as evidenced by Cricket South Africa’s decision to give him a contract once the Test skipper retired.

“If he performs at our level then he will become a permanent fixture in the national team. But he must do well for us first and I believe he’ll be fresh, hungry and wanting to prove himself. He’s wanted to come here for a long time and he’s one of the guys who has always been keen to play for his franchise,” Faul said.

While the 26-year-old Elgar is a high-quality signing that will make a real difference to the Titans team, the ambitious franchise did not stop there and also targeted fellow Proteas Ryan McLaren and Quinton de Kock.

McLaren – who Faul complimented on his “honest” negotiations – has been confirmed as a Dolphins player for next season, while De Kock is most likely to remain as a marquee player for the Titans’ Gauteng rivals, the Highveld Lions.

“Obviously we wanted to strengthen the squad but franchises do make counter-offers and sometimes guys are not as serious about moving as they say,” Faul said.

The Titans are also in negotiations with Jacques Rudolph,who wants to be considered as only a limited-overs player next season, and Faul was optimistic that there would be a good outcome, describing the left-handed top-order batsman as “another special player”.

Seamer CJ de Villiers has been sent on his way, while paceman Junior Dala, currently on loan from the Lions, will be joining the Titans full-time next season.

Other high-flying youngsters being rewarded with improved deals are batsman Graeme van Buuren (rookie contract) and Tukkies star Theunis de Bruyn (semi-pro).

Despite the hype around SA U19 captain Aiden Markram, the batsman will have to make do with a contract from the University of Pretoria for the time being.

“Aiden is a very talented young player, very level-headed and smart, and the sort of guy we want to hang on to. But we literally don’t have space because we’re only allowed to contract a certain number of players. We have other former SA U19 stars like Murray Coetzee and Theunis at Tukkies and my best advice to Aiden is to stay patient,” Faul said.

Other big-name moves in franchise cricket include Lions spinner Eddie Leie moving to the Knights, along with Cobras T20 star Richard Levi, and Dolphins left-arm seamer Mthokozisi Shezi possibly going to the Cobras.