jnaveen1980
Test Captain
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2016
- Runs
- 48,664
https://www.iol.co.za/sport/cricket...eas-fast-bowling-future-looks-bright-41653147
Despite general doom and gloom, Proteas fast bowling future looks bright
JOHANNESBURG – While the lack of quality in South Africa’s batting resources is cause for grave concern, the bowling, despite the loss of Vernon Philander is in reasonable shape.
Retirements have hit the Proteas bowling unit very hard as well, but as the emergence of Anrich Nortje this summer has shown, South Africa’s fast bowling conveyor belt is still in good working order, and with Lungi Ngidi returning to fitness, Kagiso Rabada having had a much needed break once the Proteas get to the West Indies in July, they’ll have some significant weapons at their disposal.
At domestic level, Lutho Sipamla has shown improvement this season and is currently the leading fast bowler in the Four-Day Series, and even further down the pipeline at Under-19 level, Gerald Coetzee has shown he has a bright future while it is hoped that 18 year old Lifa Ntanzi, who unfortunately missed the World Cup, can continue to show improvement as he develops both physically and emotionally.
South Africa felt it could at least match England in the bowling stakes even though the tourists had far greater experience, thanks to James Anderson and Stuart Broad and even firepower in the shape of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer.
However, they never had enough runs to work with and as a result couldn’t build pressure on England’s younger batsmen. Nortje, Philander and Rabada were always facing short turnarounds in between innings, and then especially in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth spent a lot of time in the field.
That meant they weren’t able to be as penetrative as they would have liked and in Nortje’s case bowled more overs than Faf du Plessis would have wanted him to bowl. It is to Nortje’s credit however that he just kept charging in and his pace never wavered. He was always above 140km/* and crucially as far as Du Plessis was concerned showed excellent consistency as far as line and length were concerned. His 18 wickets at 27.11 were richly deserved.
But he carried a heavy toll, only Keshav Maharaj with 148 bowled more overs than Nortje’s 125 among all the bowlers in the series and it was no surprise he needed pain killing injections just to get him through the final Test of the series at the Wanderers.
Nortje will have a much needed break during the One-Day series but the Proteas’ medical staff will have to closely monitor him.
England taught South Africa the value of having a deep well of quick bowlers from which to choose. They used seven seam bowlers over the course of the series as they dealt with illness and then injuries to Anderson and Archer. Of course they are extremely fortunate to have a player like Ben Stokes at their disposal who adds both aggression and control with the ball.
Despite general doom and gloom, Proteas fast bowling future looks bright
JOHANNESBURG – While the lack of quality in South Africa’s batting resources is cause for grave concern, the bowling, despite the loss of Vernon Philander is in reasonable shape.
Retirements have hit the Proteas bowling unit very hard as well, but as the emergence of Anrich Nortje this summer has shown, South Africa’s fast bowling conveyor belt is still in good working order, and with Lungi Ngidi returning to fitness, Kagiso Rabada having had a much needed break once the Proteas get to the West Indies in July, they’ll have some significant weapons at their disposal.
At domestic level, Lutho Sipamla has shown improvement this season and is currently the leading fast bowler in the Four-Day Series, and even further down the pipeline at Under-19 level, Gerald Coetzee has shown he has a bright future while it is hoped that 18 year old Lifa Ntanzi, who unfortunately missed the World Cup, can continue to show improvement as he develops both physically and emotionally.
South Africa felt it could at least match England in the bowling stakes even though the tourists had far greater experience, thanks to James Anderson and Stuart Broad and even firepower in the shape of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer.
However, they never had enough runs to work with and as a result couldn’t build pressure on England’s younger batsmen. Nortje, Philander and Rabada were always facing short turnarounds in between innings, and then especially in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth spent a lot of time in the field.
That meant they weren’t able to be as penetrative as they would have liked and in Nortje’s case bowled more overs than Faf du Plessis would have wanted him to bowl. It is to Nortje’s credit however that he just kept charging in and his pace never wavered. He was always above 140km/* and crucially as far as Du Plessis was concerned showed excellent consistency as far as line and length were concerned. His 18 wickets at 27.11 were richly deserved.
But he carried a heavy toll, only Keshav Maharaj with 148 bowled more overs than Nortje’s 125 among all the bowlers in the series and it was no surprise he needed pain killing injections just to get him through the final Test of the series at the Wanderers.
Nortje will have a much needed break during the One-Day series but the Proteas’ medical staff will have to closely monitor him.
England taught South Africa the value of having a deep well of quick bowlers from which to choose. They used seven seam bowlers over the course of the series as they dealt with illness and then injuries to Anderson and Archer. Of course they are extremely fortunate to have a player like Ben Stokes at their disposal who adds both aggression and control with the ball.
