Proteas pace attack eager to fire again in ODI series decider

Bangladesh’s batters discovered at the Wanderers that there are no vaccinations against the pace and bounce of Kagiso Rabada when he is at his fiery best, and South Africa’s ace fast bowler is hopeful that they won’t have time to figure out how to handle him and his fellow quicks before the ODI series decider in Centurion on Wednesday.

With Rabada leading the way with an outstanding 5/39, Bangladesh were restricted to just 194/9 in the second ODI on Sunday, with South Africa levelling the series when they chased down that target with seven wickets and 76 deliveries to spare.

ALSO READ: Proteas bounce back to level ODI series against Bangladesh

After a slightly flat performance in the first match at SuperSport Park, this time the Proteas pacemen came out firing.

While Rabada said he was still not sure why they struggled for wickets in the first ODI, he did say the extra pace and bounce of the Wanderers pitch made them more lethal.

“It’s a question I’m still asking myself,” Rabada said after his Man-of-the-Match display at the weekend.

“I guess this pitch did a bit more with the new ball. I thought we bowled very well in the first 10 overs of the previous game too, but we were just unfortunate not to get the breakthrough. And on the Highveld, you’re guaranteed to score quicker once you’re in. As the ball gets older it’s better to bat,” Rabada added.

“But there was more bounce at the Wanderers, we got the ball in the right areas and it was good to us.”

ALSO READ: ‘We’ve been lucky’: Kapp admits Proteas women must step it up

While the Proteas were delighted with their all-round performance at the Wanderers, they were dismayed by their continued tendency to start series poorly, a destructive habit when it comes to a growing side developing consistency.

“It is a concern because we always want to throw the first punch but we keep finding ourselves in this position,” Rabada admitted.

“We don’t do it on purpose and we don’t want to make our job even harder, so we still have a bit of work to do before we go back to Centurion.”