Magala settling in at Proteas with star showing against Netherlands

Fast bowler Sisanda Magala is finally settling into the Proteas setup and looking like he belongs, after he produced a man-of-the-match performance that helped his side pick up a massive eight wicket win in their ODI match against the Netherlands on Friday.  

Magala has been on the Proteas fringes for a few years now and has played six T20International’s, while this was his sixth ODI for the team, with him claiming career best figures of 3/37 in the match.

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A number of other players also stood out in the game, with Tabraiz Shamsi picking up 3/25 in his 10 overs, captain Bavuma hitting an unbeaten 90 off 79 balls and Aiden Markram striking an unbeaten 51 off 39 balls.

But it was Magala’s efforts in helping bowl the Netherlands out for 189 batting first, that tipped the scales in his favour as the man-of-the-match.

Although Shamsi produced better figures, it was Magala who made the important breakthrough after the Netherlands had got their innings off to a strong start with a 58-run opening stand.

Opening bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen were unable to pick up an early wicket, and it took until Magala came into the attack at first change in the 11^th over for him to snag opener Max O’Dowd (18) caught behind by Quinton de Kock.

In the 15^th over Magala followed that up by having the other opener Vikramjit Singh (45) caught by Bavuma, and from 71/2 the Netherlands were unable to recover as they continued to lose regular wickets.

“I have just been keeping it as simple as possible and not trying to overthink things. That was my role today, to keep things simple and it worked out,” explained Magala after the match.

“I like to envision what I want to achieve before a match and sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t, so I am just glad that it came off today.

“The team environment is very good. They are very welcoming and embrace everyone’s differences. I like that you can go out and express yourself. There is a level of calmness within the team, so it is an environment that encourages people to excel and I am enjoying being a part of it.”

Shamsi heroics

Captain Bavuma was also very complimentary of Magala’s efforts as well as the performance of Shamsi, who seems to have bounced back after an average showing in the past series against the West Indies.

“That’s a big confidence booster for Shamsi. He hasn’t put in the performances that he would have liked of late, but we still back him as our match winner. When teams come up against Shamo they know that they have to have their guards up,” said Bavuma.

For him now it is to keep growing and challenging himself in terms of the lines that he is bowling and there will be more performances like this.”

Speaking about his own top recent form, Bavuma admitted he was unable to say why he was on such an impressive golden run at the moment.

“I can’t give you a straight answer to be honest. Like I have said over the last couple of weeks I am just enjoying my cricket. There is a certain level of backing and confidence in the team environment at the moment and I think a lot of the guys are feeding off it,” said Bavuma.

“I think it’s also quite clear in terms of how we want to go about things and I think that makes things a lot easier when you understand that.”

The Proteas now have one more game against the Netherlands on Sunday in the pink day ODI at the Wanderers and they need to pick up another good win to give them the best chance of automatically qualifying for the ODI World Cup later in the year.