The Mercury E-dition

Markram: No need for Proteas to panic

ZAAHIER ADAMS zaahier.adams@inl.co.za at the tournament.

DUBAI: “There’s no need to panic just yet.”

That’s the message from Aiden Markram ahead of the Proteas’ crunch T20 World Cup clash against the West Indies tomorrow.

The Proteas slumped to a fivewicket defeat to Australia in their opening game in Abu Dhabi over the weekend, which has left them with precious little room to manoeuvre in Pool 1, which has been labelled the “Group of Death” in the United Arab Emirates.

Markram was part of the Proteas squad that slid downhill at an alarming rate during the 50-over World Cup in 2019 after a couple of early defeats in the tournament. He doesn't feel that the Proteas are in such dire straights at the moment and has the firm belief that they can turnaround their campaign in Dubai.

“I think from what I saw in the dressing-room after the game the spirit is still quite high. We understand from a batting point of view we fell short,” said Markram, who top-scored for the

Proteas with a 36-ball 40.

“But there are so many positives from a bowling side of things if our bowlers keep doing that and us batters rock up to the party we (are) going to be in for some good games. There is no need to panic just yet as we have been playing good T20 cricket and for us to get it down to the last two balls showed how good our bowling attack is.”

The Proteas certainly battled valiantly with the ball and in the field, but the batting unit simply has to raise their level of performance if Temba Bavuma’s team are to have any chance

They can at least take solace from

won’t be surprises in selection.

There is enough competition that if you slack off, there is someone to take your spot.”One certain change will be at scrumhalf because of the unavailability of incumbent De Klerk, who has undergone the fact that the West Indies suffered an ever greater loss to England in their opening game, with the defending champions dismissed for a record low 55.

Furthermore, the Proteas also recently completed a series win over the West Indies in the Caribbean.

“I think there is a bit of confidence we can take. But we still have to respect them as a team. We need to rock up and play our best game because that is what it’s going to come down to,” Markram told IOL Sport.

The Caribbean triumph was based largely on the Proteas spinners suffocating the West Indies’ power-hitters by not offering them any freebies and with Kieron Pollard’s team inclined not to look for singles in between, the dot balls piled up quickly which exerted pressure on the entire batting line-up.

This was evident during the England game too with off-spinner Moeen Ali delivering a player-of-the-match performance through a couple of crucial strikes upfront.

This could possibly lend itself to a change in the line-up with left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin due for a recall after missing out against Australia.

hip surgery, and it is a straight shoot-out between Cobus Reinach and Herschel Jantjies to slot in.Nienaber was asked if had seen Reinach’s two tries for Montpelier against Racing 92 on Saturday in the flesh.

SPORT

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2021-10-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

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