South Africa likely to play an all-pace attack in Australia
Oct 18, 2016 at 11:23 AM
Ahead of a Test series against Australia, the Proteas have made their intentions crystal clear indeed. With the Australian pitches tending to be on the flatter side since the last couple of years, taking 20 wickets has become a task way too perilous for visiting teams. Due to such circumstances, it becomes imperative to play with attacking bowlers, who can get wickets frequently, rather than individuals who simply save a few runs.
Keeping this in mind, South African coach Russell Domingo hinted that his side could field an all out pace attack for the upcoming test series, which commences next month. The likes of Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander have proven to be genuine match winners in the recent years. The quartet is more than capable of turning a game around within a few overs.
“The big decision will be whether to play four seamers or three seamers and a spinner,” Russell Domingo said. “We will have to assess how guys go in the warm-up games, what type of spinner we are looking for in those conditions if we do play a spinner, and what the best four seamers will be in those conditions if we play four seamers.”
“Australia, generally, hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for offspinners”, said Domingo. “The Australian line-up does have a lot of right-handers – Steven Smith, Joe Burns, Adam Voges, Peter Neville, so quite a lot.” And if South Africa want someone to turn the ball away from the left-handers, Duminy, who has made public his desire to contribute more with the ball, will be looked at,” Domingo further added, when quizzed about playing Keshav Maharaj as an off spinner.
South Africa’s skipper Faf du Plessis in his statement, mentioned that the Proteas would be wary of Mitchell Starc. “Starc is a huge bowler for them, but, statistically, he has been more an asset in one-day cricket than in the Test team. There will just be a little bit of preparation for us with left-arm quick again,” du Plessis said. “He is one of those guys who can crank it up and get it close to 150 and also reverse swing. Josh Hazlewood is a pretty standard bowler, he just hits good lengths all day, similar to someone like Dale and Vern.”