Charl Langeveldt slams poor domestic cricket for lack of death bowling prowess in South Africa
The limited-overs series between England and South Africa were entertaining for the neutral to watch as huge runs were scored in both the ODI and the T20I series. But South Africa's death bowling was a big problem as they failed to defend their targets on two out of three occasions.
Their bowling was so poor towards the end that they could not defend even a huge target of 223 in the final T20I and ended up losing the series 2-1.
South African bowling coach Charl Langeveldt was disappointed with the result and believes that the lack of pressure at the lower levels are producing bowlers who are ill-equipped to handle pressure on the internatinal arena. He said,
"It was disappointing, especially with the scores we had. I thought we could have defended that but in saying that, not a lot of guys get into that position in domestic cricket.
"It's a concern for me. It's not good enough. In World Cups, you are going to get a lot of games like that. And if I look around the country, domestic cricket, the close games aren't like it used to be."
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Langeveldt also spoke about the importance of executing skills under pressure situations in matches. He feels that it is easier to bowl yorkers in nets, but in the middle and under pressure, it depends on the bowler to land the ball in the right areas and that is something that the bowler himself should understand.
South Africa have one big positive with the return of Kagiso Rabada, who was rested for the England series. Langeveldt believes that Rabada and Dale Steyn would provide the Proteas with the required experience given that the T20 World Cup is just months away.
"KG (Rabada) will always bring that competitiveness. He is competitive by nature. He wants to take wickets and we will definitely use our bumpers.
"But he also needs to control the aggression. Be controlled with your lines, lengths and your bouncer."