LEFT ARM OVER
NEIL MANTHORP: Secretive World Cup selection can backfire
With Rabada and Steyn still not 100% fit, Gibson and Du Plessis would want the opposing batsmen to worry about facing them for as long as possible before the coin was tossed on May 30
Having been pronounced fully fit and raring to go a couple of days before the Proteas pre-World Cup camp in Cape Town last week, Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn played only limited parts in the team’s middle practise in Pretoria with both, apparently, still working their way back to full fitness. It’s a little early to be playing selection games with the opposition though there are legitimate tactical and psychological reasons for keeping the make-up of the starting XI a secret in the days and hours before the start of a game. Analysis and technical preparation have become more detailed than ever before and it is a team’s duty to make the job as difficult as possible for the opposition. And if Rabada wasn’t 100% fit on the eve of a game and was going to be rested, Ottis Gibson and Faf du Plessis would want the opposing batsmen to worry about facing him for as long as possible before the coin was tossed and teams exchanged. But if there were mixed messages from management regard...
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