Proteas limited-overs captain Temba Bavuma is confident of his spin options and believes the conditions in Sri Lanka will test the batsmen and be ideal final preparation before the T20 World Cup in October and November.
The Proteas on Wednesday left for the island nation to play three ODIs and three T20s against Sri Lanka in Colombo from September 2 to 14.
Bavuma and his team are using the short series as part of their final competitive engagement before the World Cup starts in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, where conditions are expected to favour slower and spin bowlers.
“It is definitely ideal for us to be put in that type of pressure, especially the batters,” Bavuma said at his departure press briefing.
“I think if I look at our performances of late, the bowling group has been very good. The bowling group has been stretched but adapted accordingly.
“Now the batters are also going to be put into that space where they are really going to have to test their skills and adapt accordingly, and obviously look forward to the World Cup, where we expect conditions to be similar to Sri Lanka, where they will favour the slower bowlers and spinners.
“It will be good experience for us to gain.”
The ODIs will be followed by the three-match T20 series at the same venue on September 10, 12 and 16.
Spin was the buzz word in the Sri Lanka camp ahead of their three-match ODI series against India at home last month, which they lost 2-1, and Bavuma is confident the Proteas spinners will hold their own in unfamiliar conditions.
“I definitely have a lot of confidence in the spin. Obviously we have got a guy like Tabraiz Shamsi who is topping the rankings in the T20 and so he is flying high on confidence,” said Bavuma.
“We have got Keshav Maharaj as well. We know what quality he is. With those two spinners I believe we can more than just compete. We can really dominate in those conditions.
“That is not forgetting having guys like Bjorn Fortuin and George Linde in our resources. I believe with those spinners we can really compete.”
The Proteas left the country under a cloud without assistant coach Enoch Nkwe, who resigned after raising “concerns about the functioning and culture of the team environment”.
TimesLIVE broke the news of Nkwe's resignation on Monday and Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed his departure on Tuesday.
CSA claimed they made “every effort to retain his services”.
Nkwe’s shock resignation comes hot on the heels of widespread criticism of coach Mark Boucher after allegations made of racist conduct against the coach during his playing days made at the ongoing CSA Social Justice and Nation-building (SJN) transformation hearings, including calling a former black teammate Paul Adams “brown sh*t”.
Boucher has since responded and apologised for “any offensive conduct, real or perceived, that has been attributed to me”.
The voices against Boucher — many have called for his resignation or dismissal over the lack of a required qualification and poor results since he took over in December 2019 — grew louder after his former Proteas black teammates revealed they suffered racial discrimination and prejudice in the national team environment during the period in which he was a prominent member of the team.
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