The Proteas brought new meaning to the phrase brave cricket ahead of Thursday’s first ODI against Australia in Bloemfontein at 1pm, sommer announcing their starting XI a day before the time.
Usually reserved for the coin toss on the day of the match, Proteas captain Temba Bavuma was so excited to have their big guns back after missing the 3-0 T20 series defeat that he decided to name the team at yesterday’s pre-match press conference.
GAME DAY❕
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) September 7, 2023
From T20I ➡️ ODIs, the battle continues as the Proteas & Australia #Betway ODI Series gets underway in Bloemfontein 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🇺
🏟 Mangaung Oval
🕙 13:00
📺 @SuperSportTV Cricket (Ch. 212) #BePartOfIt #SAvAus pic.twitter.com/OTx5ogjuwm
Asked for an update on injured bowler Sisanda Magala at the end of the presser, the skipper haaked af: “Sisanda… I might as well release the team. The team for tomorrow in no specific order is myself, Quinton [de Kock], Rassie [van der Dussen], Aiden [Markram] Klaasie [Heinrich Klaasen], [David] Miller, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav [Maharaj], Lungi [Ngidi] as well as KG [Kagiso Rabada] and Marco [Jansen] Guys who’ll be missing out are Anrich [Norte] spinners in [Tabraiz] Shamsi, Bjorn [Hendricks] and Reeza [Hendricks].
“Sisanda is not available for tomorrow.”
Of the starting XI, De Kock, Klaasen, Miller and Rabada sat out the T20 series. But with their groot spelers back, Australia can expect a different Proteas team in the first of five ODIs.
Looking to save some face after getting a goeie pak in the 20-over series, Bavuma says of facing the hard-hitting Aussies: “We expect them to come hard at us and it’s important that we have tactics, solutions as to how we can counter all of that.
“As we always will, as a team, we focus on what we want to do and we’re confidence that if we do that, the result will take care of itself.