SA to go tooth-to-tooth with Pakistan pace pack

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Auckland

SA’s fast bowlers are the baddest men in the whole damn World Cup town, badder than old King Kong, meaner than junkyard dogs. But, at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday, they will come tooth to tooth with the same bristling breed when they take on Pakistan.

“There’s not a lot of bowlers who consistently get it up over 140 (km/h) and to have three in your side is a great thing,” Ireland captain William Porterfield said wistfully on Tuesday.

He was describing his team’s rough treatment by a SA attack studded with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Kyle Abbott. But he could just as easily have been talking about Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali, who pinned Zimbabwe’s batsmen to the crease like butterflies to a board at the Gabba in Brisbane on ***.

With Abbott’s 4/21 leading the charge, Ireland were reduced to 48/5 in 10.2 overs before being euthanised for 210 in reply to SA’s 411/4.

Pakistan’s pace pack allowed the Zimbabweans to get within 20 runs of victory before putting them out of their misery, but they left their mark on the quarry by taking a bodyline approach and bowling a length that forced batsmen to fend the ball off their chests - tactics helped by the fact that all three are left-armers.

Asked if SA’s batsmen could look forward to something similar, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said, “That is the only way we can survive. If your batting is not clicking, then you need to be really aggressive in your fielding and aggressive in your bowling.

“We are not getting many runs, but still we have to fight, still we have to keep looking for a win. So this is the way we have to approach the game.”

Pakistan’s win over Zimbabwe was their first of the tournament following defeats to India and West Indies.

To hear Misbah tell it, even in the age of the uber-batsman, a monster created of unfair playing regulations and put on steroids by the rampant attacking intent conceived in T20 cricket, bowlers win one-day internationals.

“The bowlers just kept up the pressure, just kept taking wickets (against Zimbabwe), and that’s the key in this World Cup,” he said. “Even if you are defending a low total, if you have bowlers who can take wickets you can really penetrate.”

But he understood that, in cricket terms, the difference between the batsmen of Zimbabwe and SA loomed much wider than the Limpopo that separated the countries on the map.

“If we want to win against SA and we really want to progress in this World Cup, we will have to come up with better batting performances,” Misbah said. “If you keep scoring 200, 230 or 235, it will be difficult for you to win.”

The contrast in the fortunes of the SA and Pakistan batting line-ups could not be more stark. SA’s dismissal for 177 against India in Melbourne on February 22 is their only total in the tournament below 300, and on Tuesday they became the only team in one-day history to rack up consecutive totals of more than 400.

Pakistan breached 250 for the first time at the World Cup when they made 339/6 against the United Arab Emirates’ risibly poor attack in Napier on Wednesday.