Proteas skipper Bavuma on quality of SA and NZ bowling attacks and that they are not very far off in terms of quality.
Proteas skipper Bavuma does not think ‘there’s a lot between’ the two bowling attacks as his South Africa side face New Zealand today.
Bavuma sees the bowling battle between the two sides as pivotal.
“New Zealand’s bowling is formidable. Quite a disciplined bowling attack,” Bavuma said. “Up front, the guys with the new ball don’t give you much to score from. You’ve got to be decisive as an opening batter. And then in the middle, you’ve got guys again who are able to squeeze the game and force you to make mistakes. We know as batters we’re going to have to work hard. We’re going to have to bat ourselves into a position where we can make the play against them.”
The numbers support Bavuma’s respect. No team has sent down more dot balls this tournament than New Zealand, and none of them has a tighter economy rate, with the exception of India, who played their matches in the less scoring-friendly city of Dubai. Three of the top four bowlers who have delivered dot balls in Champions Trophy matches played in Pakistan are from New Zealand: Mitchell Santner, Will O’Rourke, and Michael Bracewell.
Bavuma, though, rates his own bowlers highly, too. “We’re also quite confident in our bowling. It’ll be a good show on offer between the two bowling attacks. I don’t think there’s a lot between them.”
On the eve of the match, South Africa’s bowlers, in contrast to those of New Zealand, had a full schedule and practiced later than normal, from 7 to 10 p.m.
Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen bowled for long stretches of time. Because he mostly limited himself to fielding exercises and the occasional burst, Kagiso Rabada had a lower workload. After all, South Africa took a plane from Karachi to Dubai on Sunday in case they had to play in the first semi-final. When it was announced that they would play in the second semi-final, they immediately returned to Lahore on Monday.
Bavuma said it couldn’t be an excuse for his side, though. “Logistically, things could have been more efficient,” he said. “Having said that, the boys did enjoy the time to gallivant in Dubai. Some of the boys played some golf, some went sightseeing. So it was a bit enjoyable, some of them used the time to recover. Guys made use of it as best as they could.”