Ken Borland

South Africa coach Russell Domingo on Monday defended his team’s tactical approach in the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh, saying AB de Villiers is “an impact player” who needs the game to be set up for him.

South Africa bowed out of the competition at the semi-final stage, beaten by six wickets with five balls remaining by India, but faced criticism in some quarters for their tactics, especially their decision to bat De Villiers at number five and only give Dale Steyn one over in the first 14 overs.

“AB is an impact player and the stats show – not just for South Africa but also in the IPL – that he’s more dangerous when the game has been set up for him. He doesn’t have the same game as Virat Kohli, he’s batted three with limited success.

“But it’s not about the number he bats, it’s about the situation when he comes in. If he walks out in the first over, I don’t think that’s a great time for him to bat, but if there’s been a good start then that’s a great time for him to bat.

“But if we have a 13-over partnership then there’s criticism that AB’s coming in too low, people seem to want our players to get out so AB can come in,” Domingo said.

De Villiers’ one notable innings at the ICC World T20 came in their last group match against England when he came in at number three in the 11^th over, after an opening partnership of 90 between Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock, and blazed 69 not out from 28 balls. In his other innings he came in at four in the 11^th over against Sri Lanka and scored 24 off 16; at four in the six^th over against New Zealand and made five off six balls; at four in the fifth over against the Netherlands and scored a run-a-ball 21; and in the semi-final he came in at five in the 14^th over and made just 10 off eight deliveries.

The coach said the decision to hold Steyn back in the semi-final was due to batsmen having an extremely attacking mindset later in the innings.

“Dale can only bowl four overs and we need him the middle and at the end of the innings. We also need to set up the six-over Powerplay up front as best as we can, but we can’t bowl Dale one up front, just one in the middle and two at the death.

“So we decided we’d rather have guys like JP Duminy bowling at the start in the less-pressured overs and he only went for seven in the first over against New Zealand while Dale went for 17 in the first over against Sri Lanka. But the fifth and sixth overs are the most attacking,” Domingo said.

Domingo said overall he was “not displeased” by the way his team had performed.

“You’re always judged on your last game, but I felt we played some really good cricket in the tournament. In those conditions, probably the two best sides [Sri Lanka and India] made the final, but we were quietly confident going in.

“We’ve generally played good T20 cricket in the last year, we have a good playing strategy, we got to number two in the world, so there’s a definite upward trend. We lost the Australian series because we got beaten in a seven-over game and then played badly in the other match, but we had success in Pakistan and we beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.”

Captain Faf du Plessis said he was also happy with the performances.

“It was really good to see a lot of character in the boys. Previously we’ve deserved a lot of criticism for how we’ve played the big moments, but to score 172 under high pressure in the semi-final, against those bowlers, was a really good effort.

“We made one or two mistakes on the night, but credit to a really good Indian team who were better than us on the night. But I’m really proud of the way the boys performed, I’m not disappointed at all,” Du Plessis said.

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.

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/cricket/proteas/no-one-s-place-is-safe-faf-1.1661821#.UycTV6iSy9A

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.

http://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/AustraliaTourSA/Proteas-limp-to-loss-20140314