Sunday Times
TELFORD VICE, Cape Town
AFTER two matches of their one-day series in New Zealand, SA know that Quinton de Kock can keep wicket, that AB de Villiers can bowl, that Rilee Rossouw’s luck is poisoned, and that their bowlers remain mean as junkyard dogs.
Or, as New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said after SA clinched the series in Mount Maunganui on Friday, “They don’t allow you to ease your way into your innings. They expose any weaknesses you show.”
Thanks for that, Mr McCullum, SA would say. But they are disappointed that they have allowed their opponents’ innings to linger.
De Villiers betrayed on Tuesday after the first game on Tuesday, when Luke Ronchi and Trent Boult added 74 after New Zealand had been reduced to 156/9: “Our bowlers showed skill to get them to nine down. But it’s still nine down - we’ve got to finish games. If you get teams to nine down after 35 overs you have to finish them off.”
On Friday, when New Zealand slumped to 134/9 only for Ronchi and Mitchell McClenaghan to pile on 76 for the last wicket, De Villiers tempered his tune: “It’s normal to take your foot off the gas, which I don’t think we did. But it got tough out there. That competitive edge maybe wasn’t quite there, which is normal.”
He did explain that “in the first game, I was disappointed with the way we didn’t finish things off, but today (Friday) we had the game in the bag by the 35th over”.
Too late, skipper. The toothpaste is out of the tube. Expect especially gung-ho bowling if SA whittle the home side down to a sole surviving wicket in the last match of the series in Hamilton on Monday.
SA did not need to bat beyond their top six on Tuesday, but on Friday they lost seven wickets for 47 runs in an innings that ended with their last pair at the crease. That was the difference between their total of 282/9 and a tower of runs that would have shut New Zealand out of the game.
That did not matter this time, but SA will not want to doubt the steadiness of their middle order in a World Cup that is now just four months away.
On Tuesday, De Kock reached 50 dismissals in the fewest number of ODIs - 27 - among wicketkeepers. On Friday, De Villiers took two wickets and Rossouw suffered his third first-baller in five ODI innings. And if SA win on Monday they will be the No. 1 ranked ODI team for the first time since 2009.
But it’s not about numbers. It’s about what SA know, and they know that they are playing damn fine cricket. Mostly, anyway.
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