Image Credit- AP
Here’s a caution before you read on: what follows is
observation rather than criticism—the kind of advice one could give a brilliant
student who wants to improve just a little bit more to become remarkable. And
it’s something the squad that ends up winning the World Cup will possess.
Let’s discuss a worry for South Africa, which is
death-bowling, in light of the fact that they have won four of their five games
and have one of the strongest batting lineups in the tournament.
Across their five group matches thus far, South Africa
has given up more runs than any other side while facing lower order hitters,
with 588 runs for wickets seven to ten. It’s important to emphasise that these
runs occurred in close games.
Bangladesh were 81 for 6 in the 22nd over, pursuing
383, and ended up batting till the 47th over, making 233. Sri Lanka were 233
for 7 chasing 429 when their final three wickets put up 93. England were 84 for
7 chasing 400 and reached 170.
Because of this, it is quite possible—even
understandable—that by that point South Africa’s bowlers had grown
disinterested and let the situation linger until its eventual end. Except
that’s not at all what South Africa was doing in the match against Bangladesh.
According to stand-in captain Aiden Markram, his
bowlers opted to “go death,” to Mahmudullah who “got in and
batted exceptionally well” he said at the post-match presentation
afterwards. He indicated they were using that game to experiment with their
tactics, “not that you are practicing, because you are never practicing in
a match but we thought we would go death to him and there were some good signs.
But there were one or two that we missed that went but that is death bowling ultimately.
If you get it wrong, it tends to disappear.”
What does “going death” mean in South
Africa, and who does it? Kagiso Rabada and Gerald Coetzee are their main death
bowlers, and they want to send down a combination of yorkers and slower balls,
based on what we’ve seen in the first five games.
Coetzee attempted both against Bangladesh, but with
little luck. One was a full toss that Mahmudullah dragged to mid-wicket; had it
not been a waist-high no-ball, he would have likely been out. The third was
just too full, and the second was read out of the hand and driven over for six.
Rabada also had trouble executing the yorker, so he ended to tossing luscious
full throws instead.
Taking pace off the ball has been a common last-minute
attack tactic, but statistics reveal that South Africa has only bowled 20
slower balls in 43 overs. Even taking into consideration mistakes in the
capture mechanism, seeing them shows that they don’t go to it naturally.
Additionally, Eric Simons, who serves as a bowling consultant and is more
knowledgeable than most about strategy, has replaced Charl Langeveldt, the
coach who emphasised the value of variation, as a member of the support staff.
They haven’t batted a full fifty overs against South
Africa, as no team has been below eight wickets deficit against them entering
the 41st over. That being said, it may seem harsh to single out death-bowling
for criticism of a team that has dominated most other play segments; however,
with more difficult opponents to come and the knockout stages still in the
distance, South Africa will need to improve this aspect of their game.