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Positives from the Proteas ODI series

Quinton de Kock new ODI captain.

South African cricket has been on a downward trend in recent months. The internal problems that have plagued the sport have manifested themselves on the field of play in a disastrous World Cup, where the team embarrassingly dumped out of the showpiece event. There were a lot of questions asked to the management from the fans and media. There were no answers from the hierarchy and, that caused a lot of frustration amongst cricket lovers in the country.

Photo Copyright – Steve Haag Sports 

Nobody knew who the coach would be, who will be the first director of CSA, or who is going to take over from Faf du Plessis. Everything was a mess and some of the journalists saw their accreditations being revoked. Major sponsors threatened to pull out if these problems continued.

After all of the drama, panic and uncertaintiy managerial changes were made which saw former Proteas captain Graeme Smith announced as the organisation’s new Director of Cricket. A few days later, Mark Boucher was appointed as head coach and Enoch Nokwe as an assistant coach. Former South Africa all-rounder, Jacques Kallis, was named as the team’s batting consultant.

After a disappointing Test series defeat to England. The Proteas were seeking redemption in the ODI series and the boys were expected to improve under new management. Quinton de Kock was named new ODI captain.

The plan was simple, building for the next World Cup, hence a new captain was named and there were some exciting young players that were called up for the very first time so they could gain valuable experience in having a crack at the World Cup Champions. Lutho Sipamla, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Janneman Malan and Kyle Verreynne were the new faces brought into the setup.

The team looked different and excited. It was like a mother meeting her first born, the confidence from the players was something we’ve never seen before. The top-order batsman led with example – something we lacked for a very long time. Captain de Kock showed why he is the right man to lead this new Proteas team.

The captain scored a century while Temba Bavuma scored 98 from first drop and sharing a second-wicket record partnership against England of 173, helping the Proteas win by 7 wickets with 14 balls to spare. In Durban, the match was abandoned after South Africa had 71/2 after 11.3 overs.

The visitors won the toss in the third and final match and elected to bowl first on pink day at the Wanderers. The top order struggled to get going and only managed 256-7 in their 50 overs with De Kock and David Miller being the best performers.

Rising star Lutho Sipamla is definitely one of the biggest positives from the ODI series so far. While not the quickest in the world, his ability to keep scoring down with tight lines and lengths will prove invaluable in the future.


Written by Banele Pikwa  for Hollywoodbets

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