Ken Borland

How do South Africa get the better of England’s batting juggernaut on Saturday in their vital T20 World Cup match in Sharjah? Keep the batsmen guessing, says former Proteas star Neil McKenzie, who is also CSA’s high performance batting lead coach.

McKenzie admitted that hopes of victory, that will probably ensure a semi-final place for the Proteas, would rely more on their bowlers than their batsmen, but he expressed the confidence that they are capable of backing up the efforts of their great attack.

England have a powerful batting line-up and their preferred mode of operating is to go extremely hard from the start.

“Against England, it’s important to strike up front and we must use our variations – Keshav Maharaj bowling to the right-handers and taking the ball away from them, Tabraiz Shamsi comes into his own against the left-handers and our fast bowlers are going really well,” McKenzie told The Citizen on Wednesday.

“If there’s any assistance for the seamers then our pacemen will exploit that and Dwaine Pretorius has been a revelation at the death.

“We know what England’s blueprint is, but they did change it against Sri Lanka when they were 47 for three after the first 10 overs, they definitely modified their play. But their middle-order has not really been tested and I think there might be a few chinks in the armour there,” McKenzie said.

While the former middle-order stalwart admitted to some compassion for the batsmen, who are having it tough in general in the United Arab Emirates, he said it was soft dismissals against spin that were concerning.

“They’re playing in three different venues, each of which plays differently, so it is hard and it has been a difficult tournament for the batsmen.

“There’s been enough in the pitches and if bowlers are putting the ball into the wicket then some skid and some are stopping, it’s not as if it’s spinning all the time, which is actually the worst-case scenario.

“But there have been some soft dismissals to spin, especially finger-spinners, for a right-hander to get out to Glenn Maxwell is criminal. If you’re going for the boundary or genuinely get deceived by Adil Rashid then fine, but don’t get out to a defensive push down the ground.

“The Proteas need to eliminate those soft dismissals, you can’t afford getting out when you’re trying to knock the ball for one,” McKenzie said.

A superb bowling performance by the Proteas saw them bowl Bangladesh out for just 84 and, although their batsmen had some troubles of their own on a spiteful pitch, they managed to cross the line with six wickets and 39 balls to spare in Abu Dhabi.

Bangladesh, having been sent in to bat, were thoroughly undermined by fiery fast bowling at its best by Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje.

Rabada began the rout in the fourth over when he had Mohammad Naim (9) caught at a wide mid-on and then trapped Soumya Sarkar lbw first ball with a brilliant late inswinging yorker.

In Rabada’s next over, Mushfiqur Rahim (0) was superbly caught by a juggling Reeza Hendricks at slip, South Africa’s pace spearhead finishing with career-best figures of three for 20.

There was no respite for Bangladesh as Nortje continued his outstanding tournament, bouncing out Mahmudullah (3) and then returning to wrap up the innings with two wickets in two balls as he finished with three for eight in 3.2 overs.

In between, spinner Tabraiz Shamsi did his usual fine job in the middle overs with two for 21 in his four overs.

Opener Liton Das (24 off 36) and Mehedi Hasan (27 off 25) were the only Bangladesh batsmen to contribute much.

Paceman Taskin Ahmed (4-0-18-2) made it anything but easy for the South African top-order as he jagged a delivery back into Hendricks (4) to trap him lbw and then a fine ball that held its line had Aiden Markram (0) well-taken at slip by Naim.

Quinton de Kock looked promising for his 16 but then missed a straight one from spinner Mehedi, to leave the Proteas in trouble on 33 for three.

But captain Temba Bavuma was unflustered and batted through to the end with his 31 not out off 28 balls including some great strokeplay that brought him three fours and a six.

Rassie van der Dussen (22) also helped weather the early storm before Shoriful Islam took a fine outfield catch off spinner Nasum Ahmed.

Perhaps the most important thing to come out of the match was the boost to the Proteas nett run-rate as they won in the 14th over, taking their nett run-rate to +0.74, stretching their lead over Australia’s -0.63.

Dwaine Pretorius has announced himself as a new death-bowling star for the Proteas and he knows that his role will once again be vital against Bangladesh in their crucial T20 World Cup match in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

In a low-scoring tournament, a huge premium is being placed on the last few overs when teams go for broke and the size of the boost they give themselves is often the difference between winning and losing.

So far in the three matches South Africa have played, Pretorius has taken six wickets for 60 runs in 8.4 overs, the majority of those bowled at the death. The all-rounder has executed a clever plan of bowling full and wide of off-stump to great effect.

“So far in this competition it looks like teams are taking care in the powerplay because if you lose two wickets up front you’re in trouble,” Pretorius said on Monday.

“I think Bangladesh will also try to take it deep like Sri Lanka did and then have a go at the death. It’s up to us to upset that and ensure it doesn’t go according to plan for them.

“There are dangers at the death in being too predictable, so I try and vary my pace and length, although the line stays the same. It’s not an ego-battle at the death, you just want to be as effective as possible.

“I want to bowl to a batsman’s Plan B or C rather than their Plan A. It doesn’t look too fancy but I’m happy to do the ugly job and I’ve worked on a lot of different variations of slower balls,” Pretorius said.

The 32-year-old said the great fighting spirit the Proteas have shown thus far is down to their becoming like a family, and they have promised to keep fighting to the end.

“It’s actually astonished me how this team has stuck together no matter what controversies at CSA or wherever. We are really forming a family, and that’s one of the positives of Covid bubbles – you are forced to spend a lot of time together.

“We will not stop fighting until the last ball and you have seen that in our three games so far. It’s a promise we make to each other every day. There’s an awesome spirit in the camp and a win like the one over Sri Lanka just does even more for that.

“But we are keeping our heads down, we understand that there are two very important games left. We must win tomorrow or the England game won’t matter.

“It’s knockout cricket now and you can see the intensity is there in the squad. We will leave everything on the field against Bangladesh, play at the highest intensity,” Pretorius promised.

Adapting and executing have been two of the watchwords of the Proteas team in the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and senior player Keshav Maharaj said on Friday that the last week of turmoil has merely strengthened the squad that is now living the old adage of adapt or die.

South Africa take on Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Saturday and, although defeat will not eliminate them from semi-final contention, it would be their second loss and would make it extremely difficult for them to progress given that both England and Australia have not lost any matches yet.

Having beaten the West Indies despite CSA’s BLM directive and Quinton de Kock withdrawing from the team, Maharaj says the Proteas are showing the excitement of a team that has been through the fire and is now (hopefully) out the other end.

“Obviously it’s been a tough week, but the boys are mature enough to adapt,” Maharaj said. “The spirits are high, the buzz is back after a long two days. We’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from how we’ve reacted to these setbacks both now and in the past.

“I think you’ll see the team come out with a lot more energy against Sri Lanka because the last week has brought us together even more. We’ve handled things maturely and that will hopefully feed our performance.

“We’ve had earnest chats as a team and we respect everyone’s view. Players not taking the knee is no big deal, we all support each other. It’s part of our pillars and values as a team to respect everyone’s beliefs, culture and religion.

“Nobody in this team is a racist. The team is in a good space and we have drawn strength from what happened. What doesn’t hurt us can only make us stronger,” Maharaj said.

The left-arm spinner also said De Kock has returned to his normal self after the brouhaha.

“We’re always in the team room together, having dinner together, and I think Quinny is in a good space. He’s very mature despite what people might think.

“I know if he gets an opportunity against Sri Lanka, a player of his calibre will slot right back in,” Maharaj said.

Sri Lanka had a troubled build-up to the tournament, including losing 3-0 to South Africa at home last month. But they did not just curl up and die in the UAE.

“Sri Lanka are a side in form and they are playing some really good cricket now. We can’t take anything for granted and hopefully we have done our homework,” Maharaj said.