South Africa have gone 10 games without consecutive wins.
TELFORD VICE in Cape Town
THE last time the weather didn’t kibosh an ODI involving England at Kingsmead, Nasser Hussain was their captain and Javagal Srinath suffered the last of his 11 first-ball dismissals in a blue India shirt. It was February 2003 and India won that World Cup clash by 82 runs. Since then both of England’s games in the format against South Africa in Durban have been washed out.
And, wouldn’t you know it, a 90% chance of rain has been forecast for Friday’s second ODI. That will hardly be news to South Africa. They’ve suffered no more than one washout at any of their other home venues, but four of the 38 ODIs they have played at Kingsmead have ended inconclusively because of the elements. When nature stays out of the way in Durban, South Africa are twice as likely to win: they’ve been victorious in 11 and lost 22 ODIs there.
On the evidence of the first game of the series, at Newlands on Tuesday, rain may be good news for the visitors. They were as flat as Table Mountain itself in all departments, blowing the advantage of an opening stand of 51 between Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow as well as a recovery partnership of 91 shared by Joe Denly and Chris Woakes to finish with a mediocre 258/8. And then failing utterly to put a dent in South Africa’s reply, which reached its target with only three wickets down and 14 balls remaining.
So the South Africans won’t be best pleased if Friday’s game doesn’t go the distance. Having crashed to a hattrick of defeats in the Test series against England, Tuesday’s win was welcomed as a sign of better things to come. It was Quinton de Kock’s first match as South Africa’s appointed captain, and he responded to that challenge by scoring 107. With him in a stand of 170 was Temba Bavuma, who uncorked a hitherto hidden gift for white-ball batting at international level with a scintillating 98. That followed Tabraiz Shamsi returning from proving his fitness at a conditioning camp to take 3/38.
It’s only one game and it’s only an ODI at that, but considering what went before it’s not difficult to understand why South Africans want to consider Tuesday’s triumph a turning point. They won’t be keen to remember that their team also won the first Test before their form plummetted, but that only means they will be even more intent on seeing how De Kock’s side go in Durban on Friday. Consecutive victories? Imagine that.
South Africa have gone 10 games without winning two in a row, a streak of inconsistency that started after they beat Sri Lanka and Australia at last year’s World Cup — by which time they had already been eliminated from the running for the knockout rounds.
So South Africa will want to keep doing what they did in Cape Town, which would earn them series honours. England will be bent on putting that game behind them. But if the weather has its way, all hopes will be on hold util the last match of the rubber at the Wanderers on Sunday.
When: Friday February 7, 2020. 1pm Local Time
Where: Kingsmead, Durban
What to expect: This is one of South Africa’s slowest pitches, but all four five-wicket hauls in ODIs have been claimed by seamers. Runs flow faster — 4.85 an over — than at Newlands — 4.70 — although not as fluidly as at the Wanderers — 5.16, not least because Kingsmead’s outfield isn’t the fastest. Teams have put up 300 or more than 300 six times in Durban, but only once in the second innings. In the 46 ODIs played here, teams have been dismissed 27 times.
Team news
South Africa
Why fix what ain’t broke? But, having handed Jon-Jon Smuts and Lutho Sipamla ODI debuts in Cape Town, South Africa might be tempted to blood one or more of left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin, opening batter Janneman Malan and altogether uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne. Malan, in particular, looks like cracking the nod after Reeza Hendricks’ lacklustre showing — caught behind for six off 14 balls — at Newlands.
Possible XI: Quinton de Kock, Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Jon-Jon Smuts, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Beuran Hendricks, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Tabraiz Shamsi.
England
Opener Dawid Malan’s exclusion at Newlands didn’t make much sense, so he should win what would be his second cap in the format. Fast bowler Saqib Mahmood could make an ODI debut. Truth be told, England looked so out if it in Cape Town that coach Chris Silverwood would be forgiven for emptying his bench.
Possible XI: Dawid Malan, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton, Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Matt Parkinson, Saqib Mahmood.
“It looks a little bit dry, but Kingsmead always has that extra bounce and I enjoy that. I don’t feel like I need the ball to spin. Most spinner enjoy the extra bounce.” – Tabraiz Shamsi on the Durban pitch.
“We’ve lost games of cricket before and come back to win the series, so I don’t think it’s a massive confidence knock. The boys are going to be training hard trying to level the series tomorrow.” – Tom Curran talks a good practice session.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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