South Africa’s bowling attack gives T20 hopeful signs

• South Africa can break their World Cup duck with a strong bowling attack.
• South Africa has never advanced past the semi-finals at the 50-overs.
• South Africa’s captain, Temba Bavuma, is struggling.

South Africa can break their World Cup duck at the Twenty20 competition in Australia with a strong bowling attack and powerful hitters.

South Africa has never advanced past the semi-finals at the 50-overs or T20 World Cups.

In Australia, they hope Quinton de Kock and David Miller’s destructive batting can deliver consistently, while Rilee Rossouw has returned to the team and 22-year-old Tristan Stubbs has emerged as a top prospect.

But their bowling attack gives them a chance. Marco Jansen replaced injured Dwaine Pretorius in a squad that already included Indian Premier League regulars Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.

“Australia suits our fast bowlers,” stated coach Mark Boucher. “Our attack has pace and bounce, so we need to sustain the aggression.”

Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi are among the top 10 T20 bowlers in the world.

South Africa’s captain, Temba Bavuma, is struggling. His low strike rate in T20 cricket and poor performance in T20 and One Day Internationals in the recent warm-up series in India have raised questions about his status in the team.

The 32-year-old was also snubbed by all six franchises in the auction for the new South African T20 competition, which starts in January. Coach Boucher, who is retiring after the competition, said Bavuma needed to establish form before the World Cup.

“We’ll try to get him up and running again and get him into the nets and hopefully give him a knock or two before the World Cup starts and see where he is,” he said.

“We respect the skipper.”

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