Tough work ahead for Proteas bowlers in ICC Champions Trophy, says Temba Bavuma

If the Proteas are to be a successful bowling unit in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the UAE, their pace bowlers will have to pull a rabbit out of a hat – as the conditions clearly favour the batters.

Despite two losses against New Zealand and Pakistan in the Tri-Nation series – which is understandable, given that they played a younger team – the Proteas looked solid as a batting unit, with stand-out performances by Matthew Breetzke.

Captain Temba Bavuma said it felt good to put up a decent knock “after some time”, scoring 82 off 96 balls (13x4) on Wednesday night at the National Stadium in Karachi before he was run out.

The Proteas put up 352/5, but the target was successfully hunted down by Pakistan, thanks to tons from Mohammad Rizwan (122 not out, 128 balls) and Salman Ali Agha (134, 103 balls).

The South African captain was pleased with his team's performance with the bat, but feared the bowlers may have to work a little harder for results in the Champions Trophy.

The Proteas start their tournament next week Friday against Afghanistan in Karachi (11am SA time start).

SA are in Group B, alongside Australia, England and Afghanistan.

“Getting to 350, obviously you back yourself. We were confident in the start of our innings, but unfortunately, just didn’t start well,” Bavuma said.

“We managed to get a couple of wickets, which slowed them down, but we weren’t able to build any momentum, and more importantly, take wickets throughout our innings.

“I think it stayed a good wicket from the first ball: a little bit of swing, but nothing too extreme.

“Maybe here at the end there was a bit of dew, so the ball started sliding on.

“But generally, it stuck to be a good wicket. I think it’s going to be tough work for the bowlers if these are the wickets we are going to be playing on. Not a lot on offer for the spin.”

The most economical SA bowler on Wednesday was spinner Keshav Maharaj, with figures of 0/54 in 10 overs, while fellow left-arm tweaker Tabraiz Shamsi registered 0/53 in nine overs.

The only wicket-takers travelled, with Wiaan Mulder finishing with 2/79 off 10 overs, while Lungi Ngidi (1/74 in nine) and Corbin Bosch (1/70 in eight) conceded more than eight runs per over.

The right-handed batter said the game really happens in the middle of the innings, leaving his bowling attack with the task of dissecting the opposition’s batting order on a tough wicket.

The skipper said it felt good to strike the ball well.

“It was nice spending time out in the middle. I think my last proper knock was in a Test series against Pakistan, so it’s good to kind of dust off those cobwebs,” he added.

After the match, Proteas coach Rob Walter also spoke about the challenges of bowling on the Karachi pitch.

At least the South Africans will be able to call on their leading pacemen, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, who didn’t feature in the Tri-Series due to their SA20 commitments.

“Both teams struggled to take wickets – it wasn’t just unique to us. So, the method (of taking wickets) moving forward is going to be important to us,” he said.

“If the pitches are the same moving forward, then you can expect to see more scores of 350. As you saw, there wasn’t much seam movement, bounce and turn.”

Unfavourable bowling conditions may be just what the Proteas need in their first match against Afghanistan leg-break sensation Noor Ahmad.

The left-armer Ahmad is hot off the SA20 league in South Africa, scooping 13 wickets from 10 matches for Durban’s Super Giants.