Temba Bavuma, the new South African limited overs captain has expressed strong opinion about the South African limited overs team. He will captain the team until the end of the 2023 ODI World Cup. In the interim, he will also preside over the next couple of T20 World Cups. He believes that his team can transform themselves into a powerful unit. An unit that will take on England in terms of power hitting. Is that even possible?
Bavuma’s comments
“I agree in terms of 2015 and looking at how England went about their business. There was a definite change‚
It is onething to aspire to bat like England but it is completely another thing to be able to actually bat like them. England is blessed with power hitters throughout their line-up. They have Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes who come in down the order. It allows them to play their strokes right from the beginning. Jason Roy and Johnny Bairstow are among the most feared opening batsmen. They do not know any other way of playing rather than hit the ball out of the park. Joe Root stabilises the innings beautifully with Stokesand Morgan to follow. Dawid Malan and Buttler are capable of completely taking the game away from the opposition. They also have express fast bowlers in Archer and Wood. It is a nicely rounded outfit. So much so that, if at all any team can score more than 500 runs in ODI cricket, it will be England.
Bavuma is asking him teammates to emulate that. Does he have the personnel capable of batting at that level or does the team have enough depth? This is something not everyone will be convinced.
How does the South African squad square up?
South Africa have Quinton de Kock at the top of the order. Yes, he is an aggressive opener. In the mould of Bairstow. At the start of his career, he was super aggressive but off late, he has mellowed down. Probably because of the fact he is one of the main batsman in the team. This has ensured that he concentrates on preserving his wicket and play lot more overs. As a result, run making suffers. Markaram and Bavuma follows him to the middle. Both of them are batsmen who belong to the traditional mould. They play percentage cricket. They aren’t that aggressive in that they can hardly be expected to score at a strike rate of 100 leave alone at 150.
David Miller and Rassie have the ability to score quicker but with a lot of over taken by the top order, it hardly leaves these players any room to increase the score substantially. These two are followed by Klaasen and a host of bowlers who can hardly score.
With a team like this, Bavuma can hardly hope to emulate England. Instead, he must forget the thought of playing like England and encourage his players to perform to the best of their abilities and win based on who they actually are. Bavuma himself has been quite consistent when it comes to ODIs though not flashy. He has anchored the innings well and has kept one end tight. He will do well to stay who he is and not be confounded by thoughts of playing like someone or some other team.
India’s example
India in the recent series have shown that it is indeed possible to defeat England by playing the cricket that you are known for (though I will not agree with India’s approach because in India’s case, they do have the personnel to score heavily). South Africa and Bavuma will do well to heed to this type of cricket.
West Indian cricket signs a landmark deal
West Indian cricket has signed a deal with an Indian company called Fancode. They hope to increase their fan base amongst the Indians through this deal.
“West Indies cricket remains immensely popular all around the world and many Indian fans see us as their second favourite team,” said CWI chief executive Johnny Grave.
“They have always followed West Indies teams and players and this partnership will provide great access to bring them even closer.
“It is very important for the West Indies to access the significant cricket-loving passionate audience in India. We are excited and eager to work with FanCode and their innovative, digital-first broadcast platform.”
Yes it was true. West Indies team had lot of fan following amongst the Indians. There were lot of Indians who supported West Indies over India. The exploits of Richards, Holding, Marshall, Garner, Roberts, Croft, Hall, Lloyd and a host of others were remain legendary among the Indians. There was a time when Indians wanted their players to practise in the beach because we heard that the West Indies were exceptional because they played on the beach. However, that was all in the past. The current West Indies side is not a patch on the past great ones. As such, the current team have certainly lost lot of fans. Indians do not queue up to watch West Indies play.
Conclusion
West Indian board must not look at the Indians to develop their game. They must concentrate on making the game appeal to the islanders again. Only then will they be able to sustain the game for a very long time. If they are to depend on a third country that is not even closely resembles their own, they will only fail. It is not the responsibility of the Indians or the Indian board to run other teams. Every team must find their own support structure.
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