Batting brilliant, bowling less so...

Bully to victory, or something else...

    J-P Duminy was a fascinating choice as the Proteas’ batting coach, mostly because he has not yet turned 40 and played with and against all of the squad at the World Cup, barring Gerald Coetzee, the ‘baby’ of the team. Actually, he probably did – there is always some random fixture under the radar which isn’t easily found.

On Tuesday Duminy spoke to the media and steadfastly refused to take credit for the resurgence of South Africa’s batting. Two dismal showings against Australia were overtaken by three successive totals of 300+ and then, of course, the World Cup record total of 428-5 against Sri Lanka.

    And he’s absolutely right. Any coach who accepts plaudits for a turnaround in form after four games is delusional or an egotist – the polar opposites of Duminy who has invested a great deal of time in becoming a ‘coach’. As in, not just a batting coach, but how to speak, ‘present’ and inculcate. He will, undoubtedly, be brilliant in the future, and possibly right now, but it may also take time for his learnings to embed and mature.

    But he is enormously popular and respected amongst the current squad and, if he (rightly) refuses to take any credit for the performances of de Kock, van der Dussen, Markram, Klaasen and Miller, then let it be at least recorded that those brilliant batsmen enjoy refining their approaches in Duminy’s company. The lesser batsmen (everyone else) also thoroughly enjoy his insight.

    The bowling is, and always was, going to be more of a concern before the World Cup. Such is the power of the top-six, there would be totals of 300+ far more often than not. But could they be defended with confidence? Sri Lanka scored 326 in reply to South Africa’s record 428 leaving Temba Bavuma and his team looking relieved rather than rapturous after victory by 102-runs.

    “It was encouraging to see KG back to bowling at 140kph and Gerald Coetzee reaching 145kph. There was some early swing for Lungi and Marco which was also encouraging. Keshav once again showed what a master of his craft he is, reading conditions perfectly and taking some pace off. A spinner’s greatest challenge is when there is no spin on offer, then when all the other skills are needed, and he certainly has them,” said bowling coach, Eric Simons.

    61-year-old Simons is 22 years older than Duminy but obviously shares the same goals. There is a wealth of personal experience from the older man which is being gleefully shared with Duminy imbibing the opportunity, although he still lapses occasionally into ‘life-coaching’ gobbledegook.

    Ahead of South Africa’s match against Australia on Thursday, Simons was realistic about the bowling challenges, and Marco Jansen’s figures of 2-92 against Sri Lanka.      

    “Marco bowled a lot better than his figures suggest. His two early wickets could have been crucial and there was some freaky batting from Kusal Mendis. If you bowl a good ball hitting the top of off stump and it gets hit for six over square leg, then credit to the batsman. He also had a couple of catches dropped and could easily have had Mendis lbw second ball – it might have been a very different evening for him.

    “Although we spoke about bowling with intensity, and Temba asked for a disciplined performance with the ball, there were times when we bowled like a team with 428 on the board, which is understandable but something we want to avoid. You can’t take any total for granted these days.

    “Our decision-making and thinking at certain points of the game is always under review – did we make the right calls and did our bowling match the fields we set. That’s something we’ll be working on over the next few days and weeks. Bowling the right deliveries becomes a lot easier when you are absolutely clear in your mind what the plan is and where you want to bowl the ball. If you get that right, and it still goes for four or six, then you just accept that that will happen.

    “In our team meetings we use ‘zones’ to break down the position of the game. In the green zone we are dictating terms and controlling the match; in the red zone we are under pressure. In the blue zone the game is in ‘neutral’ phase. We plan for how best to handle the red zone, how to move it from blue to green and how we can stay in the green zone.

    “It was a ‘statement’ victory. Other teams will have taken note, although the power of our top six was hardly a secret. Perhaps we’ll move more clearly onto the radar map now…”

    Apologies if this column finished as an Eric Simons column. There was, in fact, a plan for one. But permission was not granted.