“We believe in you guys. We trust you guys. One hiccup, but you know what to do.” – Siya Kolisi’s message to South Africa’s team.
Telford Vice / Mumbai
AS they do when they bat, players tend to use triggers when they talk to the press. At the crease they use short, sharp movements — their back foot moving across the stumps as the bowler reaches their delivery stride, for instance. In front of the microphones they say the same word in answering different questions, usually to buy a moment’s time to mentally polish their responses.
Jos Buttler’s trigger word is “obviously”. He deployed it nine times in his short press conference on Friday, usually to buy a moment’s time to mentally polish his answers to questions.
The care and effort to take these things seriously is appreciated; Buttler is among cricket’s more articulate and thoughtful press conference victims. But the admittedly weak joke is on him: little is obvious about England’s World Cup match against South Africa at the Wankhede on Saturday.
England lost to Afghanistan in Delhi on Sunday, and South Africa to the Netherlands in Dharamsala on Tuesday. That followed England’s defeat to New Zealand and their win over Bangladesh, and South Africa’s successes over Sri Lanka and Australia. Clear as mud, innit?
What is crystal is that Saturday’s match looms as a knockout game in all but official status. Another win and the campaign will be resurrected. Another loss, especially for England, and thoughts will turn to a long and draining traipse around India waiting to be one of the six sides who will be eliminated after the league stage. A dead team walking, you might say.
South Africa’s chances of doing so seemed to suffer a setback when Heinrich Klaasen went down, courtesy of a tasty tackle by David Miller, in a game of warm-up football on the Wankhede’s outfield ahead of Friday evening’s training session. But, after a long moment spent sitting on the turf, with Miller in close and perhaps anxious attendance, Klaasen rose and got on with things. Then Quinton de Kock took the nets, which he rarely does in optional sessions. And then Miller sent a ball arching from the middle many metres in the muggy air, over the straight boundary and over 14 rows of seats and into the reassuringly thick plate glass that fronts the pressbox. Nuggets of apparent nothingness like those are magnified in the context of matches as big as this.
The South Africans won’t be under only the, ahem, obvious pressure. The match will end hours before the Springboks play England in Paris in a rugby World Cup semifinal. The Boks have won three World Cups, the Proteas none. The Boks have never lost a final. The Proteas have never reached a final.
So it meant something that Springbok captain Siya Kolisi took time out of his team’s preparations for the match to send his cricketing counterparts a video. “We believe in you guys,” Kolisi said as he stood next to head coach Jacques Nienaber. “We trust you guys. One hiccup, but you know what to do. Enjoy it and play as hard as you can. You know that over 60-million South Africans will be supporting you, including us. So make it special.”
The significant coincidence wasn’t lost on Temba Bavuma, who said at his press conference: “It doesn’t happen often that two sports converge in a global product like they will do this weekend. There’s a lot of excitement about Super Saturday in South Africa. It’s extra context to add to what is going to be a crucial battle. A lot of us love our rugby so we’ll definitely be supporting the Springboks. We play first so the responsibility’s on us to put smiles on our compatriots’ faces, make sure we go out and entertain. And bring back the win.”
Bavuma also used a verbal trigger in his press conference. It was also “obviously”, and he also deployed it nine times. That’s how little there is to separate England and South Africa.
When: October 21, 2023 at 14:00 IST
Where: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
What to expect: The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a red alert about Cyclone Tej, which is due to hit Mumbai in the next 48 hours. But the usual suspect weather forecasts don’t mention it affecting Maximum City much. Go figure. The pitch is more predictable: red soil, so the fast bowlers’ and big hitters’ friend.
Teams:
England
Big Ben’s back. Ben Stokes, that is, who has recovered from a hip problem and is expected to play his first match of the tournament. Half of Ben Stokes, anyway: he won’t bowl. Even so, 50% of a talismanic allrounder is better than none.
As many seamers as possible seems to be the goal. But which seamers? Sam Curran, England’s worst performing quick in the tournament, could make way for David Willey. Stokes’ inclusion might come at the expense of Adil Rashid, leaving Joe Root to do the spinner’s job.
Tactics & strategy
It’s complicated. A side who have played compellingly simple cricket for years face questions on multiple fronts. The most pressing among them is where did England’s get up and go get up and go to? Their previous impressive decisiveness was missing for much of their first three games, but the fact that their top three of Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan and Joe Root made two 50s and century between them against Bangladesh in Dharamsala in their most recent match, when Reece Topley took 4/43, suggests improvement.
Probable XI: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Jos Buttler (capt), Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Reece Topley
South Africa
It would seem surprising that an XI who were properly beaten in their previous match should be retained, but that’s likely. South Africa’s choice throughout the tournament will be between Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi, and Coetzee looks set to crack the nod this time.
Tactics & strategy
Bat big, try to bowl at least as big. If South Africa have a weakness it’s with ball in hand. The Dutch proved that by hitting and hustling 104 off the last nine overs. The batting is under less scrutiny, but the World Cup’s most hyped top six will be stung at having been reduced to 44/4 by the Netherlands.
Probable XI: Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Lungi Ngidi
Did you know?
— Ben Stokes starred in his only World Cup match against South Africa, at the Oval in 2019, by scoring 89 off 79, taking 2/12 in 17 deliveries, and claiming two catches — one of them an outrageous diving reverse-cup miracle on the midwicket fence to remove Andile Phehlukwayo.
— Seven of the England XI who played in the teams’ 2019 World Cup clash are in the current squad, versus six of South Africa’s. The absentees include luminaries like Eoin Morgan, Jofra Archer, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir.
— England haven’t lost a World Cup match against South Africa since 2007, when the South Africans earned their third victory in as many tournaments against them.
What they said:
“Ben trained really well last night. It’s great to see him back. He obviously brings a lot on the field and with his presence and leadership skills as well as someone who is always good to turn to. He adds a lot of value.” — Jos Buttler on Ben Stokes’ return.
“Our biggest misdemeanour as batters is that we took the negative energy from the field, the momentum that the Netherlands guys had achieved at the end of their innings, into our batting.” — Temba Bavuma on what South Africa will try not to repeat against England.
Squads:
England: Jos Buttler (capt), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (capt), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams
Cricbuzz
Bulletproof Truth 