De Zorzi focused on new season, not captaining the Proteas

Tony de Zorzi is captaining the SA A team to Sri Lanka and feels nothing more needs to be read into it other than that.

“There is a big effort from [the media] to blow it up bigger than it seems,” he said at Cricket SA’s Centre of Excellence facility where the side wrapped up preparations ahead of Wednesday’s departure.

“Obviously someone has to be the captain on this tour and Shuks [Shukri Conrad] selected me. Now whether that [suggests] something about the future, I don’t really know and I’m not focused on that.”

De Zorzi may be growing irritated with all this talk about being a future Proteas captain, a topic Conrad raised in February when the 25-year-old was selected for SA for the first time. Conrad said De Zorzi, a former captain of the SA under-19 team and skipper at Western Province, would be a strong candidate to replace Temba Bavuma sometime in the future.

It is understandable that a link will be made between those remarks by the Proteas Test coach and De Zorzi’s appointment as SA A skipper, with Conrad also taking control of coaching the team in Sri Lanka.

“It is a narrative that is being pushed. If anything, I’m more worried about keeping my spot in the [Proteas] team and to create match-winning performances for the team,” De Zorzi said.

De Zorzi’s first outings at international level were relatively successful. He made 85 in the first innings of the second Test against the West Indies and knocked up a couple of 20s in the ODIs.

“I learnt a lot. I was fortunate to get that 80, it gives you the confidence to know that you can compete at that level, but [awareness] also to walk away and know there are things you can do better. I got starts in most innings — it’s about making sure that you kick on.

“At that level, once you get in, it’s the hardest thing to do, and you don’t want to waste [opportunities], so that is something I want to take into this tour and into the season.”

Sri Lanka A are expected to field a strong team, particularly for the three one-day matches, as they boost their preparation ahead of the World Cup qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe that starts at the end of June. The teams will also face each other in two four-day matches.

The majority of the SA A players are coming out of a winter break, but De Zorzi hopes they will be sufficiently focused to take on the Sri Lankans.

“We had a very good camp to get us into gear. We are expecting a strong showing because they will be looking ahead to that qualifier,” he said.

“It’s a nice measure for some of our guys who have not played international cricket to see where they are and the things they need to work on. [Sri Lanka] are always packed with talented players and they usually bring guys you’ve not seen or followed … I’m sure it will be an exciting tour.”