SA face Zimbabwe in second ODI with opportunity to fix batting woes

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa: South Africa’s bowlers did a sterling job in their series opener to help the hosts go 1-0 up, but their batting will be under pressure to deliver against Zimbabwe in the second One-day International (ODI) on Wednesday (today).

At Bloemfontein’s Mangaung Oval, the Proteas may have the perfect stage to set right some of their batting errors and get the middle order flowing smoothly.An untested middle order clearly got the memo about playing aggressive cricket, but in the first ODI their application in conditions that made strokeplay dangerous went awry. Only Heinrich Klaasen seemed to have figured out just how to be positive against the extra bounce in Kimberley.

South Africa’s bowling, meanwhile, appears in starkly fine fettle. Kagiso Rabada bowled a little within himself on Sunday, but was still effective, while Lungi Ngidi showed that he could be a menace even on a fairly slow pitch.

Andile Phehlukwayo and Wiaan Mulder did exactly what was asked of them in backing up the new-ball pair, while Imran Tahir whizzed through his variations to clean up the tail.Zimbabwe’s batsmen will also be pleased that South Africa’s attack might be defanged a little by batting-friendly conditions.

At the same venue twenty years ago, Zimbabwe played their first Test match on South Africa soil. Eight years ago, Brendan Taylor cracked a career-best 145* here under lights.Zimbabwe desperately need captain Hamilton Masakadza to deliver a solid performance at the top of the order.

South Africa, too, need more out of their batting unit. Their middle order is under more than a little pressure to perform after a lull in their last three ODIs.Reeza Hendricks has just seven runs from his last three ODI innings, while Dean Elgar and Christiaan Jonker are yet to show whether they can fill in for the injured Hashim Amla and the absent David Miller.

Klaasen helped South Africa overcome a wobble against Zimbabwe in the opener, and the batting hopefuls will be desperate to impose themselves a little more second time around.Zimbabwe have some middle-order issues of their own, but their batting malaise is a little more widespread and of particular concern is their ability to absorb pressure by turning the strike over with singles. This was particularly apparent in Kimberley, when 153 of the 205 deliveries bowled at Zimbabwe were dots.The pitch is expected to be flat with plenty of runs on offer.