Proteas bowlers are improving, insists Maharaj

Keshav Maharaj may be limping, but he has shown why the Proteas selectors were willing to give him as much time as possible to prove his fitness after he ruptured his achilles tendon in March.

Maharaj wore long socks to cover scars from surgery to reconnect the tendon, but that fashion choice and the limp are minor sacrifices for him to fulfil a World Cup dream. 

And if anyone was in doubt about why he is so important to the Proteas’ chances in India, Tuesday’s performance in the third ODI against Australia provided the evidence.

Maharaj, with fellow spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, bowled a match-changing spell that helped keep alive the Proteas’ chances in the series and gave a timely boost to the team’s flagging confidence. 

He bowled a full 10 overs, finishing with 2/37 that included two maidens.

On top of that, his running out of David Warner, in which he moved quickly to his left, was the catalyst for Australia’s collapse.

After enduring six months of rehabilitation, Maharaj’s latest challenge to improve from one match to the next.

“The recovery is going as well as can be after each game. The main thing is I can execute my skills, which is pleasing. I will always have a limp, but the medical staff have been phenomenal.

“Four months ago I was still in a moon boot, but I’ve put in hard work behind closed doors with regard to my skill. I’m trying to bowl my best ball all the time. The real test will come when I play on wickets that don’t offer much assistance. Then I will be able to see if I am close to my best or not.”

Maharaj’s return is one part of a bigger journey for the Proteas’ bowling unit, which, until their two front-line spinners intervened on Tuesday, was struggling horribly against Australia’s aggressive batting. 

“We’ve acknowledged where we can be better as a unit and it’s not just the seamers. It’s about the lines and executions.

“It was better in the last game, although conceding 100 runs in the first 10 overs probably doesn’t indicate that,” said Maharaj.

“But if you look at it from an analysis point of view — things like the groupings of deliveries — it is getting better. Hopefully that is building up towards peaking at the right time for the World Cup.”

Having lost five out of six matches against Australia across the two series so far, Maharaj said scepticism about SA’s progress was understandable.

“If we can take care of our process, then the performance will take care of itself,” he said.

“We are showing signs of growth, but performance is the defining criteria and hopefully we see the rewards of that going forward.”

Australia will be determined to show that Tuesday’s collapse with the bat in Potchefstroom, when they lost their last nine wickets for 87 runs, was a minor blip on what has otherwise been an extremely successful tour for them. Missing four starters, including skipper Pat Cummins, before the series, they also had all-rounder Cameron Green suffer a concussion in the first match.

It sets up Friday’s fourth encounter at SuperSport Park in Centurion beautifully. The T20s and ODIs have lacked a close finish. With so much for the tourists to prove and the series still on the line for the hosts, it’s poised to be a thriller.