Proteas batters must ‘suck it up’ in US conditions, says Klaasen

Though he does hope the wicket will have less in it for the bowlers in their T20 World Cup match against the Netherlands in New York tomorrow, Proteas batter Heinrich Klaasen says they will just need to “suck it up” if it doesn’t.

With T20 cricket having developed into a format which favours batters, highlighted by the massive scores in the recent Indian Premier League (IPL), the pitches at the World Cup have shaken things up.

Among the first nine matches which had been played, as of yesterday, both teams scored fewer than 100 runs in three of them, including South Africa’s six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in their tournament opener in New York on Monday. Chasing 78 runs to win, the Proteas reached their target with 22 balls to spare in what was a closer match than the scorecard suggested.

‘A fair contest’

With ground staff able to select between multiple drop-in surfaces that are being used at Nassau County Stadium, middle-order batter Klaasen hoped the wicket for tomorrow’s fixture would be less unpredictable and balance things out a bit.

“We don’t mind that the bowlers have something in it for them, but I think it just needs to be a fair contest,” Klaasen said yesterday.

Klaasen admitted, however, that low-scoring games could still make for “entertaining cricket”.

If it was a tricky pitch against the Netherlands, he said the batters would need to accept it and adapt accordingly.

Bogey team

With the Dutch side having beaten South Africa in the last two World Cups they have played, regardless of the wicket, they needed to deal with what they faced as best they could against their bogey team.

Klaasen did, however, hope their bowlers would stand up again – as they did against Sri Lanka – and give the batting line-up a reasonable chance.

“I think the wicket was a little too much on the bowlers’ side (against Sri Lanka) but it’s part of the game,” he said.

“Sometimes you get a wicket that’s too flat, and now as batters we need to suck it up a little bit, and hopefully we get a better wicket in the next game.”