Trusting pacers, middle-order firepower

South Africa are entering the contest as dark horses and they have all the ingredients to surprise any opposition

South Africa are famous for choking when it matters the most but very few will argue that last time, they were just hard done by because of the format of the tournament.

In the previous edition of the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup, Proteas failed to cement their place in the last four after finishing third in Group 1 in Super 12s, that too despite losing just one out of the five matches.

This time around, they will be hoping to go at least one step further than the last edition and looking at how they’ve performed recently, there is no reason to believe that they will not able to achieve that feat.

In total, South Africa have played 35 matches in the history of the ICC T20 World Cup where they have won 22 times and suffered just 13 defeats in the process.

Strengths:

South Africa’s strength in this year’s tournament will be their fast bowling as well as their middle and lower-middle order.

In terms of the pace attack, Proteas have one of the best lineups to use Australian conditions to good effect in the presence of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and Wayne Parnell.

Those four pacers have the ability to dismantle any batting lineup on a given day and therefore, the management will be hoping that they can unleash their pace battery and get the desired result by restricting any opposition to a manageable total.

On the other hand, South Africa’s middle-order batting is looking extremely frightening for other teams.

In 2022, the likes of David Miller, Rilee Rossouw, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen have collectively scored 858 runs in 29 innings at an average of nearly 43. While doing so, they had strike rates of 186.18, 180.46, 161.60 and 191.89, respectively.

Those numbers are just too good to be true for any team to have in the mega event and the management will be hoping that all four of them will continue doing the same in the competition as well.

Weakness

South Africa’s primary weakness in this competition is likely to be its spin department. In 2022, the Proteas’ slow bowlers are conceding runs at an economy-rate of 8.75, the second-most expensive behind only England.

The coaching staff will be hoping that the record will improve once the team will play on bigger grounds where hitting boundaries will not be easy.

Another weakness of the side is captain Temba Bavuma and his role in the team. Looking at the record of the 32-year-old, it is clear that he is not the kind of player you would want to have in the T20I team and it was because of this reason he was not picked in the first-ever draft of the new South African league by any franchise.

It will be nothing less than a challenge for the management to find a role for Bavuma in the side because as things stand, he is only in the team because he is the captain and at times, which is not a good place to start with.

Fixtures:

South Africa are placed in Group 2 in the Super 12s alongside one of the favourites India, Pakistan, Bangladesh whereas two teams will join after the qualifying round.

Proteas first match of the competition will be up against the side who will qualify as the winner in Group B at Bellerive Oval, Hobart on October 24 whereas their final league fixture will be against the Group A runner-up on November 06 in Adelaide.

Squad:

Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius (out with injury), Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen (in for Pretorius)