Proteas will be prepared for whatever conditions await in St Vincent

The Proteas will be fully prepared for whatever conditions await them at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown, St Vincent when they take on Nepal in their final T20 World Cup pool game on Saturday morning (1:30am start SA time).

All three of their wins in the competition so far have come in New York, on the notorious Nassau County drop-in pitch, and batting conditions in particular are expected to be much better in the West Indies.

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Proteas limited overs head coach Rob Walter admitted that they have been gathering as much intel on the conditions they are set to face, even from their bus driver.

Different conditions

“We have a few guys here who we speak to and we connect with the groundsman. So there are a few guys that we lean on from a surface point of view.

“Our bus driver who picked us up when we arrived at 3am told me that when the sea is rough there is bounce and pace and when the sea is calm then it spins. So that was a nice bit of intel as well,” Walter said with a smile.

“So we gather it from wherever we can, but most importantly I want us to be able to respond to the conditions in front of us and be able to figure out a method to win, which I thought we did well in New York.”

The Proteas batters have been under heavy pressure due to the conditions in New York, with Heinrich Klaasen recently admitting that they had to completely change their mindset in those games, but Walter believes they will have no trouble switching back to the way they usually play.

Aggressive brand

“Our default in the way we have been playing for a while now is that sort of aggressive, expansive brand. It’s not like the guys are not used to doing it. So being able to click back into that way of how we play won’t be too tough. It is just what the guys do these days,” said Walter.

“The pitch in New York was tough purely because you had variable bounce both laterally and vertically. It made it tough to get into good positions and take anything on. You just didn’t know what was coming your way. But when the pitch is good the batters understand what is required and how to play from there.”

Looking to the rest of the tournament, Walter believes the struggles they faced in New York will stand them in good stead as they head into the business end.

“I am stoked to see how the guys have responded under pressure. It is not going to get any easier from here. Going into the Super 8s there are three massive games in five days, with travel in between. So that is going to be a significant week,” said Walter.

“Then hopefully we move onto the semifinal stage so it is good to be put under pressure early and hopefully we can have some easy games as we go on.”