Eduan Roos
Johannesburg - The Proteas can forget about getting any meaningful
preparation before their series against England.
Zimbabwe, against whom South Africa are scheduled to play two games
to prepare for the series, were on Tuesday dismissed for just 44
runs against an equally inept Bangladesh in the fourth clash
between these two teams.
It was the fifth-lowest total in the history of one-day cricket and
Bangladesh reached the winning total for the loss of only four
wickets to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series.
Only Malcolm Waller (13) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (11) could reach
double figures, with spinners Shakib-Al-Hasan (3/8) and Enamul
Haque (3/16) in good bowling form.
Proteas coach Mickey Arthur put his team’s failure in the
recent Champions Trophy series down to a lack of game time after
South Africa played almost no cricket for more than two months
ahead of the “mini World Cup”.
South Africa were already knocked out in the group phases after
losses against Sri Lanka and England.
Arthur, who had to explain the Proteas’ struggles to the
management of Cricket South Africa (CSA) last week, warned that
they should not fall into the same trap before playing England in
just over a week’s time.
CSA chief executive Gerald Majola then announced that the Proteas
will play Zimbabwe twice – on November 8 in Benoni and two
days later in Centurion – to warm up.
The batting performance was Zimbabwe’s third worst to date
and the team also has the dubious honour of having posted 3 of the
10 lowest scores in cricket.
A further concern for Arthur is that anything but convincing
victories over South Africa’s neighbours will have the alarm
bells ringing. That said, easy victories may deprive the players of
valuable batting and bowling practice.
The Proteas’ bowling in the last 10 overs requires sharpening
up. That will not happen if Zimbabwe last for only about 25 overs
as was the case in Chittagong on Tuesday.
Sport24 |