SA look for trouble at WT20

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

“We were not meant to win two of those games,” JP Duminy said yesterday, which was as near as dammit to an admission that SA have accepted that their approach to playing in the shorter formats is changing for the better.

Which combination of SA’s World T20 victories Duminy referred to was unclear. They pipped New Zealand by two runs, survived the Netherlands by six runs, and scraped home by three runs against England.

But his point was clear. SA’s mental toughness is catching up to the quality of the talent and skill they have always put on the field.

The Proteas will continue to play emphatic cricket powered by big hitters and express bowlers, but they know they need to develop the subtler aspects of their game if they are to keep winning matches they were likely to have lost in the past.

Morne Morkel rescuing an expensive over against New Zealand with yorkers to leave Dale Steyn to defend seven off the last is one example of doing just that. Ignoring the jerking knees about AB de Villiers’ place in the batting line-up or Hashim Amla’s calm approach are others.

“(Finding) ways to win a game out of nothing is definitely something we will take confidence from,” Duminy said.

And confidence SA will need if they are to overcome India in their semi-final in Dhaka on Friday. The Indians are the only remaining unbeaten team in the tournament, and they have piled up their victories by emphatic margins.

Pakistan and West Indies were each swept aside by seven wickets, Bangladesh smashed by eight wickets, and the Australians came second by 73 runs.

Not that India came into the competition as strangers to success. They were WT20 champions in 2007, and won the 2011 world Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

India are polar opposites of SA, who have not won a trophy since 1998 and last emerged on top in a knockout game at an International Cricket Council tournament in 2000.

That said, India are opposites of the old SA team, the side that would tend to lose close games. Faf du Plessis’ side went to Bangladesh under less pressure to succeed than usual and they have used that breathing space to gel into a unit more attuned to thinking their way out of trouble than they were previously.

Trouble used to find SA and deal with them accordingly. In this tournament, SA have found trouble and dealt with it accordingly. The difference seems subtle, but it looms large in the results column.