Proteas batting coach JP Duminy says they are expecting Australia to come at them hard in their Cricket World Cup clash in Lucknow, India on Thursday.
South Africa got their World Cup campaign off to the perfect start when they beat Sri Lanka by 102 runs in their tournament opener at the weekend, while Australia went down to hosts India by six wickets in their first match after a horror show by their batsmen saw them dismissed for just 199 runs.
Add to this humiliation that South Africa fought back from 2-0 down to win their five-match ODI series 3-2 as both teams finalised their preparations for India and Duminy knows these Aussie are gonna stiek uit wild.
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He says: “Having had personal experiences against them when their backs are against the wall, they’re gonna come out firing. Knowing their personality, it doesn’t take them away from their style of play - they’re gonna come harder.
“Our response to that is to try and stay in our bubble of process…
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“Not necessarily fighting fire with fire… we’re a resilient country, we stick together in tough times. “So whatever is thrown at us, we’ve got to look at each other and say ‘I’m gonna do this for my mate, for the guy on the other side’ and understand the ‘how’ of what’s in front of us.
“We understand the ‘what is in front of us’ and now the conversation needs to shift to ‘how’ we are going to overcome it - particularly in he middle. When under pressure, what is our next move? And we’ve got to be very intentional about. Where we have gone wrong in the past is when we’re under pressure we haven’t made good decisions.
“So can we be in a position to make sound decisions under pressure, that’s ultimately gonna give us the best chance. Not only to beat Australia in a World Cup match, but any team we come across.”