Nothing wrong with New York wicket, says Proteas bowler Nortje

In a format which generally favours the batters, Anrich Nortje was pleased to have an opportunity to compete in conditions suited to bowlers, as he led South Africa to victory in their opening game of the T20 World Cup in New York on Monday night.

Facing former champions Sri Lanka in unfamiliar conditions at the temporary Nassau County Stadium, Nortje spearheaded the Proteas track by taking 4/7 as they restricted their opponents to 77 all out.

In response, the SA team reached 80/4 with 22 balls to spare, wrapping up a six-wicket win.

The low-scoring match suggested that the batters were not going to have things all their own way at the global showpiece, particularly in New York where the Proteas also play their next two matches.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the wickets… we (bowlers) are also allowed to get some sort of assistance,” said Nortje, who was named Man of the Match.

“It’s different to what guys have been used to for the last few months or years. There’s a little bit more in the wicket for the bowlers and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

‘Brilliant game’

While the Proteas won relatively comfortably in the end, Nortje admitted the match was closer than the scoreboard suggested.

He felt both sides had done well to entertain the crowd of more than 12,000 people.

“There doesn’t always need to be 20 sixes in a game to make it entertaining. There’s still a lot of strategy that goes into it… so I thought it was a brilliant game,” he said.

Building momentum

Made to fight for the win, Nortje said the Proteas were relieved to get their campaign off to a positive start after convening as a full squad less than a week before the tournament.

“It means a lot to us just to get some momentum going,” the speedster said.

“It’s been a tough few days and we’ve worked really hard, so it’s great to get a result and build momentum.”

The Proteas will face the Netherlands in their next Group D match at the T20 World Cup on Saturday.