Ken Borland

Proteas coach Mark Boucher would love his batsmen to go out and show more intent in T20 cricket, but he knows they first of all need to be equipped to do so and he said on Tuesday that captain Temba Bavuma will be one of the players he will be working hard with ahead of the World Cup in October.

Bavuma’s series strike-rate of just 103.38 came under the spotlight when South Africa wasted a 2-0 lead in their T20 series in India, but Boucher on Tuesday backed his captain in unequivocal fashion, highlighting that many of his problems were due to the outstanding performances of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the player of the series, up front with the new ball.

“Temba struggled, there’s no doubt about it, so as coaches we have to sit down and ask why? It was one bowler that he struggled against – Bhuvneshwar. Most guys did against him, he’s a fantastic bowler in those conditions and when the ball swings a lot then he is very dangerous. And the new ball was going up-and-down a lot,” Boucher said.

“We will look at giving him more options, but it’s quite difficult to change up during a series while you’re travelling and playing. Temba had also not played much cricket before the series.

“Against other bowlers, his strike-rate was fine, there were no issues. He wants to score quicker and his stats outside the powerplay are very good. He gets boundaries in different ways than say a Rassie van der Dussen or an Aiden Markram.

“There is space for a guy who can stabilise the innings and we see him in that mould. Temba loves a challenge, look how he has come through in Test cricket. He’s a tough cricketer and captain and we certainly do need him. I’ll be working extra hard with him and the bowling machine,” Boucher said.

The coach was also frank about the batsmen needing to embrace a new, more adventurous way of playing that he is trying to institute.

“You need the technical know-how to be able to play the shots, but your mindset also needs to be open to raising your strike-rate,” Boucher said. “By doing that you get your confidence up.

“In terms of mindset, you need to really trust the plan. And it’s not just about playing maverick cricket, we need to be smart too. It’s a new way and we don’t want to just go back to our default of a year or so ago.

“The batsmen need to commit to the new philosophy and not have doubts. You’re not going to win the World Cup if you don’t have the right mindset and the way India and England play is the way forward.

“Some batsmen are not used to taking a risk inside their first six balls, and especially in the third game we saw that, there was not enough intent. We didn’t pull the trigger to put the bowlers under pressure,” Boucher said.

The Proteas will want to continue to lay down the law as they have been doing recently in T20 cricket as their final dress rehearsal before the World Cup starts in Sri Lanka on Friday, with South Africa having won six of their last seven matches in the format.

The figures for the year overall are slightly less impressive, with eight wins from 15 matches, but it was in the West Indies in June when their fortunes began to turn around, largely due to some continuity in selection as the commitment was made to start choosing the best XI with October’s World Cup in mind.

Spin-bowling all-rounder George Linde might want to call his lawyer over his omission on Thursday from that 15-man World Cup squad, having played an integral role in the recent run of success, but it probably makes sense for the Proteas to now leave him out and play the two orthodox left-armers they have earmarked for the UAE – Keshav Maharaj and Bjorn Fortuin.

It was confirmed on Thursday that Maharaj, who will be making his T20 International debut, will also continue captaining the side in the absence of Temba Bavuma, who was injured in the first ODI. Although Maharaj has no experience in this format at this level, judging by his form in the ODIs, one can bet their house that he will be as reliable as ever with the ball.

The third ODI showed just how tough playing Sri Lanka at home can be, which will be great preparation for the tough conditions expected in the T20 World Cup.

“It’s never easy coming here. The pitches in the UAE won’t be as slow as here at first, but they will deteriorate with all the IPL and World Cup games being played on them. So there’s going to be a lot of emphasis on playing spin, we’ve been working on different ideas and options. There’s no substitute for winning and winning the series is our primary objective,” senior batsman David Miller, who is back from injury, said on Thursday.

“We want more of the same as we come off good performances in T20 cricket in Ireland and the West Indies. We want to build on that momentum and confidence, and role-definition is going to be quite crucial. Spinners ad all-rounders is what we will rely heavily on and we need to assess and adjust to conditions. Our strength is playing as a team, being as smart as we can and combinations are key,” Bavuma said from Johannesburg on Thursday.