Lightning strike needed by SA

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg *

If SA’s glass is half-full, their World T20 match against New Zealand in Chittagong today is the perfect opportunity to debunk the theory that they crumble under pressure. If the glass is half-empty, another melting moment is uncomfortably close.

SA are under that pressure after making a hash of their chase against Sri Lanka on Saturday. The Lankans’ 165/7 was their highest total against SA in this format, and several squandered starts by the South Africans spelt defeat by five runs.

The Proteas’ order will be made taller by the buzz the Kiwis will feel after beating the rain and England by nine runs on Saturday.

And to think JP Duminy was going like a train when Tillakaratne Dilshan plucked his slog sweep off Sachithra Senanayake centimetres short of the boundary

What might have been SA surging to 125/3 with 26 balls left to get the 41 required runs - difficult but doable - became 119/4 with Duminy dismissed for 39.

“That’s the nature of T20 cricket,” AB de Villiers said in Chittagong on Saturday. “One inch further and it could have been a six.”

Another loss today would raise the heat on SA to levels that could boil the water in their glass regardless of whether it is half-full or half-empty.

It remains possible for teams who win just two of their four group games to qualify for next week’s semi-finals, but that would be a long shot. And with little time between matches, momentum - positive and negative - will be a bigger factor than usual.

So SA would feel a shot of sunshine if Faf du Plessis passes his fitness test on a dodgy hamstring this morning. While there is no saying his presence would have won it on Saturday they will take any good news they can get.

They will also look forward to another quality performance from Imran Tahir, whose career-best 3/26 reeled in the Sri Lankans when they seemed to be running away with the game. Then Tahir, usually the most dependably inept of batsmen, cushioned the blow of SA’s loss by hitting Lasith Malinga over extra cover for six with the last ball of the game.

“You could feel the game changing when he came on to bowl,” De Villiers said.

SA have won eight of the 11 T20s they have played against New Zealand, including two in previous editions of this tournament. But the teams have never faced each other in subcontinent conditions over 20 overs. The last time they met in Bangladesh, in a 2011 World Cup quarter-final, SA wasted a winning position and lost by 49 runs.

The New Zealanders know they are perennially among the less talented teams, and so are more geared to adapting to the prevailing conditions. SA tend to rely on their emphatic talent, and sometimes they don’t make adequate allowance for those conditions.

“When lightning’s around it’s a bit foreign,” Kane Williamson said about the dramatic backdrop for his team’s win over England.

If SA’s lightning strikes today, ifs and buts will not be required - their cup will runneth over.

* Not in Bangladesh