Ken Borland

New South Africa limited-overs captain Temba Bavuma said on Monday that he hopes to define a style of play for the Proteas that will be fit for every condition and for every occasion.

Bavuma will lead South Africa for the first time in the three ODIs against Pakistan which start at Centurion on April 2, followed by four T20 Internationals.

The Proteas’ failure to win any of the world cups is well-documented and their performances in the global tournaments seem to be getting worse rather than improving, their most recent failure being their dismal showing in England when they failed to advance to the knockout stage. South Africa have not played an ODI since their tremendous 3-0 whitewash of Australia little more than a year ago, but since the 2019 World Cup they have completed just five matches.

“South Africa have always been more than competitive in ODIs, we’ve been No.1 in the world before. As the leader I’m just going to try and define a style of play that we will be able to execute in any conditions and under any occasion. To do that, mentally we need to improve a lot, we need to get stronger. I’ll be trying to inspire and get the guys into a space where they can perform as well as they can.

“We want to be aggressive and able to dominate in all conditions. We definitely want to test ourselves more in conditions that may be ‘unfavourable’ for us, we want to see if we can execute our brand of play at all times. The mood is optimistic and hopefully I can lead the team to a couple of victories as we build to 2023. We really want to define our style of play,” Bavuma said on Monday.

Bavuma’s landmark appointment – he is the first Black African to lead South Africa – comes after he has played just six ODIs, but has scored 335 runs at a strike-rate of 92 in those games. While the 30-year-old has now scaled the Drakensberg in terms of his career, he knows he needs to keep posting performances to add to the rocks already on his cairn on top of the mountain.

“Those conversations about where I’ll bat are still ongoing, but it will probably be in the top three, I would like to think no further down than number four. But being versatile is something I pride myself on, it’s something I’ve always had to do. I’ve got to make sure I’ve got the skills to achieve whatever role I’m in. Obviously I’m excited by the responsibility.

“I’m going to enjoy the journey and this new chapter in my career, and I look forward to adding value with the bat. I have to stamp my mark on the game and I will be the guy on the field who the players will look to for decision-making and plans. It starts with communication off the field and then hopefully we can execute the plans,” Bavuma said.

Cricket will return to South Africa on Saturday as a new format of the game debuts at SuperSport Park in Centurion when 3TCricket is launched with a match between three teams featuring the best local talent available, and the Proteas’ No.1 limited-overs spinner Tabraiz Shamsi believes it will not only add a fun new dimension to the game but also broaden the thinking of cricketers.

3TCricket involves three teams of eight competing with each other at the same time, with each team batting for six overs against each opponent. A total of 36 overs – 12 overs per side – will be played after the action gets underway, broadcast live by SuperSport, from 11am.

The players had a practice game on Thursday and Shamsi said there was confusion at first but they had ultimately enjoyed the experience and he sees future prospects for the format.

“With all the different rules we didn’t know what to expect and it was confusing at first. But it’s exciting and none of the players had anything negative to say about it. I just see it basically as you bat and bowl twice, six overs an innings. It brings a different way of seeing things tactically, like with the team with the worst score after the first innings batting last second time round, so they are still in the game.

“The format gets us thinking in other ways which can only be good. When T20 started, people were thinking it was a joke, just go out there and hit the ball, but now we see there is so much strategy in T20 cricket. Having not played for four months, you can’t expect the players to be at the levels they would normally be at, but hopefully this format does see more matches because it is fun,” Shamsi told Saturday Citizen on Friday.

Even though spinners have subsequently become key weapons in T20 cricket, Shamsi said 3TCricket is going to be tough for all bowlers but especially his slow-bowling ilk.

“It’s going to be very difficult for bowlers, especially spinners, and especially at SuperSport Park where it has traditionally been very hard to defend. There are only six fielders so of course you are going to go for runs. In our practice match teams were scoring 80-90 runs per six overs, so as a spinner if you’re going for 15-runs-an over I think you’re doing okay.

“I think the best strategy is to try and take wickets because batsmen can only bat once between the two games, so they also have to be a bit careful. The best way is still to strike because you probably won’t be able to defend anyway because there are so many gaps in the field. And bowling only three overs makes it hard too because as a spinner you only get in your groove after an over or two,” Shamsi said.

Squads

Kites: Quinton de Kock (captain), Temba Bavuma, Jon-Jon Smuts, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks, Lutho Sipamla. Coach – Wandile Gwavu.

Kingfishers: Reeza Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Faf du Plessis, Heinrich Klaasen (captain), Gerald Coetzee, Thando Ntini, Glenton Stuurman, Tabraiz Shamsi. Coach – Mignon du Preez.

Eagles: Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, AB de Villiers (captain), Kyle Verreynne, Andile Phehlukwayo, Bjorn Fortuin, Junior Dala, Lungi Ngidi. Coach – Geoffrey Toyana.

The days of being cautious with the bat in limited-overs cricket are as dead as the dodo for the Multiply Titans, with captain Albie Morkel saying he wants the batsmen to take their aggression to another level when the RamSlam T20 Challenge gets underway on Sunday.

The Titans won both white-ball titles last season, in no small measure because they took their batting to a new level never before seen in South African domestic limited-overs cricket.

The Titans reached 400 on three occasions in last season’s 50-over competition, the Momentum One-Day Cup, including a record-breaking 425 for five in the final against the Warriors at SuperSport Park. In the T20 tournament, the Titans went past 180 on four occasions, including another domestic record in lashing 230 for five against the bizhub Highveld Lions, in Centurion.

Those exploits were made possible by the flying starts given to the Titans by mostly Aiden Markram, Jonathan Vandiar and Henry Davids; with openers averaging well above 50 and scoring at better than a run-ball, the batting unit is always likely to soar to great heights.

“The batsmen must keep playing with freedom and flair. If conditions allow it, then we’ve set ourselves the target of a score of 200 for every innings, we want the batsmen to go a step further, to provide extra impetus. To get 180 is also good, but then you can still fall short,” said Morkel.

“In the 50 overs competition, we passed 400 three times and that doesn’t happen by chance, it comes because the batsmen are encouraged to be aggressive. Batting deep is also important and having guys in the middle who can hit boundaries.”

The Titans start the defence of their title against their neighbours from Johannesburg, the Lions, at SuperSport Park on Sunday, November 12, as the main attraction of a double-header also featuring the WSB Cape Cobras against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins. Morkel’s team also scored 194 for four in their game against the Lions at the Wanderers, on their way to a 42-run win.

With the Titans producing such entertaining, winning T20 cricket, the hour is now to make plans to watch their campaign for a hat-trick of titles. To make attending their games even more attractive, a number of Proteas stars will be playing.

“We didn’t win the last two competitions by chance, we have a recipe that has proved itself, although there are always small things we can improve on. It’s always nice to start a new competition with some sort of momentum and most of the guys have put in good performances to go to the top of the Sunfoil Series log.

“We’ll have a few players from the Proteas as well and we’ll be able to put good sides out on the field again, guys who know how to play T20 and how to play the big moments. Form is very important, but so too is the team gelling together.

“We would now rather rotate players than loan them out, but we have to be mature about it and by the knockouts we should know who the guys in form are. Until then we need to do the basics right, you can’t overlook how important small things are, every ball is an event,” concluded Morkel.

http://www.titans.co.za/index.php/k2-8/2014-12-23-04-21-46/listing-2-columns/item/738-days-of-being-cautious-are-dead

An adherence to the age-old cricketing virtue of letting your runs speak for you has seen Khaya Zondo recover from a slump in form in 2015/16 to such good effect that he leaves on Tuesday for England as the captain of the SA A limited-overs team.

It is a richly deserved honour for the 27-year-old as he not only averaged 49.75 in the Momentum One-Day Cup last season and 67.27 in the Sunfoil Series, but also led the Dolphins with aplomb when the captaincy was thrust upon him in mid-season.

It was a far cry from the previous season, when he returned from a tour of India with the Proteas, where he was upset that he did not play a match, and scored just 61 runs in his first 14 innings of the summer. He then scored a 65 against the Titans, but then made just one run in his next three innings.

“I was in the desert and no-one wants to come into the desert with you, only God. But I was told by one of my mentors [whom Zondo wanted to remain anonymous], who gives me lots of spiritual guidance, that the world owes me nothing, rightly or wrongly. What happened can’t be changed and it was up to me to make sure that it helped me to grow as a cricketer.

“So that gave me a lot of comfort. What happened in India was unfortunate, but it was part of a bigger plan, a building block. It gave me a lot of confidence to know that I was strong enough to get out of that bad slump. Lance Klusener [former Dolphins coach] showed me a lot of love and told me that if I’m burning in the fire, then I must make sure that I come out the other side as a roast chicken, I must be something a lot better, make sure I just get through it.

“I think I’ve learnt to be more resilient, to get through what I went through taught me that things can be taken from you, rightly or wrongly, that’s life. Maybe I unintentionally took things for granted a bit, I just relaxed a bit. Now I know never to relax,” Zondo said on Monday.

A greater focus in training and on every ball he faces has led to much better consistency for the Westville product, and he goes to England as one of the most in-form batsmen in the country.

“I just want to be better each day, whether that’s getting underarm throws or full-out nets, I want to leave every training session and every match a slightly better batsman; the greats are always evolving. As a captain, I also like leading from the front, I’m more focused, and last season I didn’t do too much differently, just making sure I watched every ball, made sure I was awake and ready for every ball. My focus was much better, and I just changed my head position a bit,” Zondo said.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20170525/282252370473828