SA striving for ‘our perfect game’

“It’s an opportunity to make a tour that is already successful even more successful.” - Rassie van der Dussen

Telford Vice | Cape Town

FRESH from winning Test and T20I series against West Indies in the Caribbean, South Africa are in for changes of scenery, weather, conditions and format in Dublin.

On Thursday it was 31 degrees in beachy, balmy Grenada, where the South Africans won the deciding T20I on Saturday. In the Irish capital it was 18 degrees on Thursday. Dublin’s forecast for Sunday, when the first of three ODIs will be played at Malahide, is 19 degrees. And a 70% chance of rain.

Batting wasn’t straightforward in Grenada. What might it be like across the Atlantic Ocean? “It’s very dependent on overheard conditions,” Rassie van der Dussen told an online press conference on Thursday. “When the sun is out and the wicket can get quite hard it becomes favourable for batting. But if there’s a little bit of rain around in the preceding days and on [match] day the ball swings, the grass livens up and the seam movement becomes a factor — especially when there are two new balls.”

Van der Dussen knows of whence he speaks. He played three matches for Church of Ireland Young Men’s Society in the 40-over Ulster Cup in May and June 2014. That he scored an undefeated 116 off 107 balls in the first of those games will surprise no-one who has seen this splendid splinter of a player hitting the ball as hard as anyone at international level. But he also bowled 21 overs of off-spin and took eight wickets at an average of 16.00 and an economy rate of a touch more than a run a ball.

He was back the next May to August to play for the more prosaically named Northern Knights in the three-day and 50-over inter-provincial competitions. He scored two half-centuries in five innings in the first-class matches — and claimed two wickets in three overs. In the one-dayers, his 93 was the best effort of his four innings. But he didn’t bowl a ball, like he hasn’t done in all 58 matches he has played for South Africa across the formats.

And he won’t expect to turn an arm over against Ireland, what with the squad bristling with Bjorn Fortuin, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi. Hang on, Van der Dussen’s biggest fans will say: that’s a lot of slow bowlers, but none of them is an off-spinner.

Even so, it’s hard to imagine Van der Dussen marking out a run-up considering the wave of momentum the South Africans have ridden all the way from the Caribbean to Ireland’s shores. “The group is full of self-confidence,” he said. “In the Test series the conditions made it difficult to bat, but we knew our bowlers would make it difficult for them. The 2-0 result was very important for us.

“In the T20Is, to win 3-2 against that kind of team was good for the side’s self-confidence. It showed us that our plans work, and that if we play according to our gameplans and the manner in which we want to play, we can beat some of the best teams in the world. So the guys are very positive.

“This series is another opportunity to take a step forward to our perfect game or our perfect team. These days there are no easy games, especially away from home. We know Ireland are going to come with everything they have. For us it’s an opportunity to make a tour that is already successful even more successful.”

For that to happen, his broad bat is likely to be required. And he’s looking forward to being given a bigger chance to meet the challenge than he had in Grenada: “You get time in the middle with 50-over cricket. Sometimes in T20 cricket you don’t get that, especially batting in the middle to lower order. Sometimes, in a T20, you go in and you’ve got maybe 10, 15 balls. In 50-over cricket you’ve got a bigger scope to try and identify where your game is at. It helps to give batters a reference.”

Van der Dussen came to the crease at Nos. 4 and five in the T20Is in Grenada. He took guard in the second half of those five innings only twice, and never later than with 21 balls left. But he faced just 75 deliveries in the series. Even so, only Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis and Aiden Markram had more balls bowled to them.

The difference is starkly illustrated by the fact that in his most recent ODI innings, against Pakistan at the Wanderers in April, he scored 60 off 37 — almost half his total deliveries faced for the T20I series against the Windies. Two days earlier, against the same opponents in Centurion, he had made 123 not out off 134. That’s almost twice the amount of action he saw in the entire Grenada rubber.

So Van der Dussen will be keen on the changes of scenery, weather, conditions and format promised by the Ireland ODIs. Especially if his team needs another spin option …

First published by Cricbuzz.