“When the pitches are good and the boundaries are smaller the margin for error becomes a lot smaller.” – Aiden Markram on bandstand grounds like Bristol’s.
Telford Vice / Catania, Sicily
FOR an assortment of reasons, among them his choice to play in the IPL, Kagiso Rabada has missed 10 of South Africa’s 23 matches across the formats this year. Soon that number of absences will rise to a dozen: he has been ruled out of the T20Is against Ireland in Bristol on Wednesday and Friday.
This time injured ankle ligaments have taken Rabada out of the equation. The same problem stopped him from playing in the T20I decider against England in Southampton on Sunday. What with a Test series starting on August 17 and the T20I World Cup looming in Australia in October and November, Rabada and the rest of his cricketminded compatriots will hear the recovery clock ticking loudly.
A CSA release on Tuesday suggested he remained in the frame for the rest of the England tour: “He will continue medical management and rehabilitation and his progress will be closely monitored in preparation for the … Test series.” Some will read hope, rather than conviction, between those lines.
South Africa do not want for quality quicks; Rabada’s replacement on Sunday was Anrich Nortjé. But a player of Rabada’s stature is not simply a source of wickets and, in this case, useful lower order runs. He is the spearhead of the attack and among the team’s better, clearer thinkers. Rabada is a standard bearer for excellence. To lose him is to lose significantly more than a fine fast bowler.
Even so, South Africa should have the beating of a team who have lost their last six T20Is, and who haven’t won any of their half-dozen games in the format against non-associate opponents since September 2021 — when they were 3-2 winners over quasi-minnows Zimbabwe. That series followed the 3-0 thumping, by increasing margins, Ireland endured at home in July at the hands of the South Africans.
Bristol’s cosy boundaries will help even those odds, and perhaps take the edge off the threat posed by Tabraiz Shamsi in the wake of his career-best 5/24 to clinch Sunday’s clash. That followed his haul of 3/27 in Cardiff on Thursday and made him the England series’ highest wicket-taker. He had South Africa’s best economy rate and was second only to Lungi Ngidi in strike rate terms. And that after Shamsi was hit for 49 runs in three wicketless overs in the first match of the rubber on Wednesday — which was played in Bristol, where England won handsomely.
It’s difficult to imagine the Irish inflicting that kind of damage. In their last five T20Is, against India and New Zealand, they have been bowled out for 142 and 91 and only Harry Tector and Andy Balbirnie have scored half-centuries. Craig Young took 17 wickets at an economy rate of 9,05 across those games, so his omission from this series with a groin injury will hurt Ireland.
South Africa have a patchy recent record in T20Is, winning only two of their last five completed games. But they haven’t given themselves over to the kind of crazy cricket played by England, which Ireland seem to have adopted as their method of choice.
All good. Except when it doesn’t work.
When: August 3, 2022; 7.30pm Local Time
Where: County Ground, Bristol
What to expect: A sprinkling of rain in the morning, but not enough to get in the way of the match. And runs. Short boundaries will do that.
Team news:
Ireland: Craig Young’s withdrawal because of a groin injury could mean South African born and raised Graham Hume will make his debut in the format.
Possible XI: Paul Stirling, Andy Balbirnie (c), Lorcan Tucker, Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Curtis Campher, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Graham Hume, Josh Little
South Africa: Kagiso Rabada’s removal from the equation should prompt the retention of the XI that clinched the series against England on Sunday.
Possible XI: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller (c), Tristan Stubbs, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortjé, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
What they said:
“The brand of cricket we are playing means that sometimes we will be bowled out for a low score, but that’s what you see with pretty much most international teams.” – Harry Tector rationalises Ireland’s run of poor results.
“We are maybe a team who play better cricket on slow pitches and bigger fields, which is strange. You would think that, as a team, you’d be hoping for great pitches and smaller boundaries. But this team has played some of their better cricket in tougher conditions and on bigger outfields. When the pitches are good and the boundaries are smaller the margin for error becomes a lot smaller. It’s something we’re going to try and improve on. We’re going to try and nail that on a smaller field here in Bristol.” – Aiden Markram on South Africa’s cricketing claustrophobia.
First published by Cricbuzz.
Bulletproof Truth 