There has been a strong emphasis on being able to adapt to conditions in India during this World Cup and it is comforting to know that Lungi Ngidi found success in the last ODI that was played in Lucknow.
The Proteas play Australia in Lucknow in their second World Cup match. They face bitter rivals Australia in what is set up to be a thrilling encounter.
Australia were dominated in their opening performance against India, while the Proteas thrashed Sri Lanka in their opening clash, so it isn’t a secret who will be coming into the clash with their confidence on a high.
There have only been four ODIs in Lucknow, and although it’s a small sample size, there is a pattern that has revealed itself. Medium-pace bowlers and spinners were effective.
Lungi Ngidi is in the top five when it comes to best bowling figures recorded at the ground. He has experience bowling there. It should be an easy decision to put his name down first when deciding which seamers to pick.
The next decision for the Proteas would be whether to play two spinners. Given Australia’s struggles against spin in the match against India, it seems pretty straightforward that we should pick both Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi in the match against them on Thursday.
There is an understanding that the Lucknow wicket will not play as before. Pat Cummins explained this in his presser.
“I don’t know. We’ll judge tomorrow for the toss. But it’s a beautiful stadium. I thought I had been here, but I don’t think I have. Beautiful ground. The wicket looks really good. I haven’t had a look at it today, but last night looked really good, really even. So maybe a bit of pace and bounce. Yeah, so we’ll see how it is tomorrow.
“Potentially yeah, it looks like [a high-scoring wicket]. When it’s a good wicket – which that looks like – most of the games have been 300-plus”
Regardless of this information, the Proteas need to analyse the conditions on the day and go with what they feel is the right team. The bowling aspect will be key, as I feel quite confident in our ability with the bat given how comfortable they have been at playing against spin, particularly Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller.
It’s also useful to know our record against Australia in ODIs.
Since 2016, we played 20, SA won 15, Aus won 4, 1 no result.
Confidence should be taken from this.
