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Nagpur – The Proteas’ shock defeat to England on a difficult pitch in Chennai may end up counting in the team’s favour once the wheat is sorted from the chaff at the Cricket World Cup.
BLOG: Take a chill pill, you lot...
GALLERY: CWC 2011 in pictures
South Africa lost to England by 6 runs in spite of a terrific bowling performance and a manful attempt at salvaging the situation by Morné van Wyk and Dale Steyn.
The loss of 7 wickets for just 41 runs led to the Proteas’ first defeat in the tournament on the sub-continent, but Van Wyk believes things could easily have turned out differently.
“It’s difficult to explain what it was like batting on that wicket. I have honestly never before come across such uneven bounce and spin, or seen a pitch on which it’s so difficult for batsmen to survive,” the wicketkeeper said on Tuesday.
“The first 10 to 15 balls that you faced were a nightmare and then you needed some luck – something we have not had much of.”
But the 31-year-old from Bloemfontein does not believe it was only a negative experience. He and Steyn almost pulled it off for South Africa with a partnership of 33 for the eighth wicket before both batsmen were dismissed in quick succession.
“Just to be in front of the wickets in the heat of battle was an incredible experience and I’m convinced we would have won had I been able to stay in for another 7 or 8 deliveries,” said Van Wyk.
“It was a valuable lesson because we may still end up playing on a similar wicket again later in the tournament.”
And that may suit the Proteas this weekend when they are up against one of the hosts, India, who are the overwhelming favourites.
“In the World Cup everybody would like to see games in which scores of 330 are posted and opponents are bowled out for 280, but that is not always possible. At least we now have that experience to fall back on. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”
Van Wyk will be “very surprised” if there are as many landmines at the Vidarbha Stadium on Saturday.
“With the exception of their one training game in Bangalore (against Australia), the Indians have only played on good batting strips,” he said.
“It’s clear that the organisers are going to that 10-15 percent additional trouble with the preparation of this team and people in the know believe that the wicket can deliver 700 runs again.”
Van Wyk, who played wicketkeeper in place of the injured AB de Villiers for the past two games, is not sure whether he will play again.
“I did not expect to be playing so soon, but AB is a very important batsman for us and we have to look after him,” said Van Wyk.
Nagpur – The Proteas’ shock defeat to England on a difficult pitch in Chennai may end up counting in the team’s favour once the wheat is sorted from the chaff at the Cricket World Cup.
BLOG: Take a chill pill, you lot...
GALLERY: CWC 2011 in pictures
South Africa lost to England by 6 runs in spite of a terrific bowling performance and a manful attempt at salvaging the situation by Morné van Wyk and Dale Steyn.
The loss of 7 wickets for just 41 runs led to the Proteas’ first defeat in the tournament on the sub-continent, but Van Wyk believes things could easily have turned out differently.
“It’s difficult to explain what it was like batting on that wicket. I have honestly never before come across such uneven bounce and spin, or seen a pitch on which it’s so difficult for batsmen to survive,” the wicketkeeper said on Tuesday.
“The first 10 to 15 balls that you faced were a nightmare and then you needed some luck – something we have not had much of.”
But the 31-year-old from Bloemfontein does not believe it was only a negative experience. He and Steyn almost pulled it off for South Africa with a partnership of 33 for the eighth wicket before both batsmen were dismissed in quick succession.
“Just to be in front of the wickets in the heat of battle was an incredible experience and I’m convinced we would have won had I been able to stay in for another 7 or 8 deliveries,” said Van Wyk.
“It was a valuable lesson because we may still end up playing on a similar wicket again later in the tournament.”
And that may suit the Proteas this weekend when they are up against one of the hosts, India, who are the overwhelming favourites.
“In the World Cup everybody would like to see games in which scores of 330 are posted and opponents are bowled out for 280, but that is not always possible. At least we now have that experience to fall back on. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”
Van Wyk will be “very surprised” if there are as many landmines at the Vidarbha Stadium on Saturday.
“With the exception of their one training game in Bangalore (against Australia), the Indians have only played on good batting strips,” he said.
“It’s clear that the organisers are going to that 10-15 percent additional trouble with the preparation of this team and people in the know believe that the wicket can deliver 700 runs again.”
Van Wyk, who played wicketkeeper in place of the injured AB de Villiers for the past two games, is not sure whether he will play again.
“I did not expect to be playing so soon, but AB is a very important batsman for us and we have to look after him,” said Van Wyk.
