#WT20 Proteas prepare for spin

Proteas captain Faf du Plessis is expecting the crucial Group 1 tie against the West Indies to be dominated by spin.

Nagpur – Even with the authorities’ decision to change the pitch for South Africa’s World T20 Super 10 clash with the West Indies at the VCA Stadium, Proteas captain Faf du Plessis is not expecting the crucial Group 1 tie to be dominated by anything other than spin.

Media reports here in Nagpur have suggested that the ICC’s pitch consultant Andy Atkinson suggested the move after the low-scoring affair between India and New Zealand in the tournament opener. The hosts were shot out for 79 in reply to New Zealand’s 126/7 with some balls turning square. Kiwi spinners Mitchell Santner took 4/11, Ish Sodhi 3/18 and Nathan McCullum 2/15 as nine India wickets fell to spin.

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South Africa had a lengthy training session on Thursday as they opted to extend it in order to put in a fielding session at night under the floodlights. While the Proteas were being put through their drills, the groundstaff were still actively busy preparing the pitch and were seen throwing bags of grass cuttings over the surface.

"When we got here, on the first day of practice the wicket was very dry, and we just prepared ourselves accordingly to play on it," du Plessis said. "Obviously it's changed a bit now, we're not playing on the same wicket.

"We knew that the ground will be a lot different here than it was at Mumbai [where South Africa played their first two matches]. So whether it was changed or not, it wouldn't have made too much difference to us. I assume that the reason they're changing it is to not be as dry, or not to spin as much as it possibly could have on that dry surface. But it's still two teams competing and possibly going to be a spinning deck, so I don't think too much will change," Du Plessis said.

South Africa have endured a tricky week building up to this clash since JP Duminy was ruled out with a strained hamstring on Tuesday. The majority of their preparations have been sent on working out the correct balance within their starting XI which allow Du Plessis sufficient options with the bat and ball. With the captain favouring a “lengthy batting line-up” it appears that the Proteas will take the field with both all-rounders David Wiese and Chris Morris like they did in their last game against Afghanistan in Mumbai. The expectation was that either one would possibly have had to be discarded to accommodate the expected recall of left-spinner Aaron Phangiso.

“I’ve always been a fan of a long batting line-up. Definitely on wickets like this. This is when it really matters,” Du Plessis said. “I believe the longer and stronger your batting line-up is, that’s when games go to the crunch. If you look at all the games played on surfaces like this, it’s the No. 7, 8, 9 that get you over the line or fall short. You can go right through all the games that have been played on these wickets.

“That’s something I’ve been building in this team for a while, to make sure we’ve got a long batting line-up. I do think that on wickets like Mumbai, you possibly don’t need that. You can possibly load your bowling a bit stronger, because if you play ten games there, you’ll probably only need the No. 8 two or three times. Whereas in conditions like this, I do think that batting strength is key,” the skipper explained.

It seems then that the debate surrounds which seamer will be left out on Friday. Du Plessis is certainly struggling to nail that place down, especially as he remains very impressed with youngster Kagiso Rabada and the team’s “silent assassin” Kyle Abbott, while Dale Steyn’s experience, especially here in Nagpur, all factors to consider.

“We do rely as a team on being smart and to make the correct decisions on whatever the surface is on the day,” he continued. “I think if you consistently prepare for those sort of scenarios, where you need to adapt everyday and you don’t just rely on one game plan. For us it’s about being the smartest ones on the day.” - Independent Media