sk-logo
hero-image

Coach Russell Domingo not overly concerned about South Africa's struggle against spin

The South Africa coach said that the India bowlers outbowled his side in the 4th ODI at Chennai

South African coach Russell Domingo has said that he is not worried about his side struggling on slower turning pitches, a predicament which they faced during the 4th ODI in Chennai at the Chepauk Stadium yesterday, reported ESPNcricinfo.

In a match that saw two brilliant centuries from two of the best batsmen in world cricket at the moment, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, most of the South African batsmen found it hard to face the turning ball, on a surface tailor-made to help spinners. Chepauk has always been a stadium which has helped the spinners in the later parts of the game. The cracks on the pitch tend to break up towards the end of the first innings and help the slower bowlers in the second innings.

Domingo said that he was surprised to see the turning track figuring so late in the series, as the previous matches were played on flatter tracks which helped the pacers. He also went on to add that he wasn’t going to be unduly worried about his players’ performance against the spinners and that his team would come into their own in the next game in Mumbai.

"We thought it would arrive earlier, so pretty pleased it's only arrived in the second-last ODI," Domingo said after the match. "Look, this ground has got a history of the ball spinning. It's not such an easy ground to chase. If you look at the history, not many high scores have been chased so I wouldn't say concerned. They are a quality bowling side and they bowled well under the conditions, you have to give them credit for that.”

We pride ourselves as good players of spin: Domingo

The South African coach also tried to instill confidence in his side by talking about players from the past who were great players of spin and who were equally adept in using their feet against spinners as well as staying back and playing the ball late.

"We pride ourselves as guys who play spin really well. If you look at the history of our side, we have gone to places and performed really well against spin and we are expecting the wickets to be similar to this in the Test matches and pose a great challenge for us and it's something we are really excited about taking on. We want to beat some of the best sides in their conditions and it's an opportunity for us to do that so we know it's going to be tough, but we'll be well prepared for it."

AB de Villiers who scored a century yesterday must have been the reason for Domingo’s confidence. De Villiers looked at home against the spin trio, which consisted of Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and Axar Patel, with a strike rate of over 100 against them; while his teammates struggled to read the pitch and were beaten by the spin every second delivery, getting bat to ball rarely.

Amla can score a century in Mumbai: Domingo

For example in the 31st over when Mishra was bowling to Behardien, the latter struggled to even get bat to ball, the first and the fourth ball went past the edge, the second he was caught behind by Dhoni which the umpire gave not out, whereas the replay showed otherwise with a slight nick while passing the bat.

The third delivery again deceived Behardien as the ball fell just short of the cover fielder, before eventually falling off the fifth delivery while attempting a sweep. Of the 16 balls he faced Mishra, Behardien was able to score only 8 runs.

AB, despite scoring a century, didn’t have it easy as he was beaten quite a few times at the start of his innings, before settling in. Domingo also spoke about Hashim Amla’s dip in form and rated him a world class player and said that even the best players in the world suffer a dip in form every once in a while.

"If you look at it, there are two players in the world who average over 50 in Test matches and one-day cricket that have played the game and Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers are the two," Domingo said.

Domingo also added that Amla was the kind of player who despite his string of poor performances, could come into the next game and make a huge score.

"Look, Hash is a quality player. All players have periods in their careers where they are maybe not churning out the runs like they should, but we know Hashim could get a hundred in Mumbai. He is that type of player. So he is massively important for us and we are not concerned about his form at the moment because we know he'll come good at some stage."  

You may also like