South Africa’s current batting coach Ashwell Prince has a simple method of scoring runs in T20 Cricket. According to Ashwell Prince, run-scoring can be achieved in three ways and unfortunately from South Africa’s point of view according to Prince, they got only one of them right in the second T20I against New Zealand in Hamilton.
Ashwell Prince comments on where they went wrong in press conference
In the post-match press conference, Ashwell Prince reckoned: “Generally in a T20 game you get three opportunities: you can either play the match-winning innings, which unfortunately for us it was Devon Conway today for them, or you can be in a match-winning partnership with someone, or you can play a really nice cameo towards the end. Today, the only box we ticked was George Linde who played a really nice cameo towards the end, but we didn’t get any partnerships going and we didn’t get anyone going on and making a big score.”Â
Batting at No.7 Linde smashed a 12-ball 33 which included three fours and three sixes but it came too late. South Africa were chasing 176 and by the time Linde came got to the crease were 67/5 in the 11th over and all but out of the game. They had no partnerships higher than the opening stand and no batter other than Linde got past 19.
Contrastingly, New Zealand had a little bit of all of Prince’s ingredients for successful T20 batting. Conway’s 60 was the highest score of the match and set them up for victory, they had two partnerships of 35 runs or more and two cameos from Cole McConchie and Josh Clarkson which pushed their score above 170.
Conway’s was the stand-out knock of the game, his highest score in over two years in T20Is, and provided the blueprint for how the rest of the batters should bat. While he started relatively quickly and was on 41 off 31 balls, he was forced to slow down run-scoring on a surface South Africa’s stand-in-captain Keshav Maharaj said became more difficult to bat on. His next 19 runs came off the 18 balls, which illustrates the slow down, and how important his first scoring shots were on a tough pitch.
Ashwell Prince praises Devon Conway’s knock
Ashwell Prince said: “Devon played great innings, but also at a strike rate of I think about 125, which meant it was a hard-working surface.”Â
Cole McConchie speaking afterwards, also praised Conway’s experience in being able to score runs on a pitch where some balls seamed to stick as he put it, while South Africa were unable to do so. Though some of the batters like Tony de Zorzi and Jason Smith, who were both part of their original T20 World Cup squad will be disappointed with their performances thus far, they are also lacking their usual strengths. None of South Africa’s first choice batters are on this tour and they have been dealt an injury blow.
Jordan Hermann, who due to open alongside Conner Esterhuizen, picked up a hamstring injury in match one. His brother Rubin was in the XI and Prince expects both to be around for some time to come.
Ashwell Prince on the Hermann brothers and their prospects
Ashwell Prince said: “I’m sure he’s bitterly disappointed. It would have been nice also for the family, for him to get the opportunity to play alongside his brother. He’s played really well in SA20 over the last few years and is one of the bright young players in South Africa and we were really looking forward to seeing him on the international stage. It’s a shame that he’s got to return home, but I’m sure we’ll see some more of him in the future.”Â
South Africa have no reserve batters in the squad and have promoted Wiaan Mulder, who replaced the injured Eathan Bosch in the squad, to the position. The series is currently locked at 1-1 with the third game to take place on Friday.
Let’s wait and watch as to which team comes out on top in the third match with the series level at 1-1 with all to play for in this 5-match T20I series.
Also Read: NZ vs SA: 3 Reasons For New Zealand’s Crushing Loss In 1st T20I