Proteas regroup for final showdown with Black Caps

The next couple of days in the Proteas camp will be spent in search of solutions on how to sucker-punch New Zealand in the Tri-Series final in Harare on Saturday.

The Black Caps have been all over them like a rash in white ball cricket this year, dating back to the Champions Trophy semifinal and now in the series in Zimbabwe.

Admittedly, the squad on duty in Harare at the moment is a second-string outfit but they will not have taken kindly to being convincingly beaten twice by the Kiwis in a 21-run defeat last week and a seven-wicket loss on Tuesday. 

In the most recent defeat, batting was the main issue, while in the first game, it was ill-discipline in line and length by the Proteas bowlers that let the Black Caps batters off the hook as they recovered from 74/5 to register 173/5. 

Other than Reeza Hendricks’ 41, there were no major contributions in the batting, even though the coaches reshuffled the order.

With the ball, Senuran Muthusamy gave SA some hope soon after the power play with the dismissals of Rachin Ravindra and Mark Chapman, but man of the match Tim Seifert had already done the damage.

“A better batting performance is needed. We’ll reflect and see how everybody went about the game today. We have a couple of days of practice, and hopefully on Saturday, we come out a lot stronger,” Hendricks said in the post-match presser. 

“We’ve played against them now already, so we know what they’re bringing, and they know what we’re about as well. So, we just have to reflect on our own games and hopefully we can put up a better performance.” 

Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad has used the series, his first as white ball coach since taking the reins from Rob Walter, who is coaching New Zealand, as more of an experiment, roping in several young players, including Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kwena Maphaka, Nqaba Peter, Andile Simelane and Dewald Brevis. 

This is part of a strategy to get them used to the environment, and to be part of the preparation for the 2025 T20 World Cup. A win over the Black Caps and lifting the trophy will no doubt be considered a bonus and a step in the right direction. 

“It’s his [Conrad] first series. It is a lot of learning [in white ball cricket] from both parties’ players and coaches. The reaction has been positive, even though we have lost twice against New Zealand. It is also the same when we are doing well. Now it is a matter of how we rectify and get better,” Hendricks said.