South Africa’s highly rated pace attack flopped in the first Test against England because they allowed pre-match hype to make them complacent, according to assistant coach Vinnie Barnes.
Barnes wasn’t happy with what he saw from strike bowlers Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini as England piled up 593-8 declared in the first innings at Lord’s.
He insisted pundits’ claims that South Africa had the fastest bowling attack in international cricket had a negative effect, but he is convinced they can bounce back in the second Test, which starts at Headingley tomorrow.
“We have a young attack and it was a huge occasion for them playing their first Test at Lord’s,” Barnes said. “There’s no doubt that they were overawed.”
FASTEST
“There was also a lot of hype in the media about the South Africans having the fastest attack since the West Indies in the 1980s — and the guys started to believe it all,” he said.
“We were also unable to get onto the field because of the bad weather preceding the Test and couldn’t get a feel of the ground, and in particular the slope,” Barnes said. “They all have a strong feeling that they’ve let the team down — and they’re desperate to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Barnes has been working to restore morale among his bowlers after the drawn match.
He feels it is only a matter of time before they hit their stride and has been showing them videos of their best moments to underline the point.
“We’ve reminded them that they lost their game plan,” Barnes said. “Bowling is all about patience, pressure and operating in partnerships. The guys just didn’t apply their skills.”
VIDEO ANALYSIS
“I’ve done technical work with the guys and a lot of video analysis,” he said. “I’ve sat down with the bowlers individually, for two hours each, and shown them examples of what they can do when they were bowling well.”
“I showed Dale Steyn his bowling at Newlands in the New Year Test against the West Indies when he was bowling at 150kph and swinging it big, and one of his best spells at Chennai against India when he took four for 10 in eight overs with the old ball,” Barnes said.
“Makhaya has tended in the past to make slow starts to series,” he said.
“We worked hard to get his intensity up, so that he knew his first ball had to be his best ball. But it didn’t happen. Nevertheless, we are confident he will get better,” Barnes said.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
RSS