De Zorzi ready to deliver more as Proteas set sights on second Test

While it may have looked like Tony de Zorzi was attempting to apply a game plan infused with “Bazball” during the first Test against West Indies, his more attacking batting was simply the result of what the conditions dictated. 

He acknowledged he was not consciously trying to entertain or attract new eyeballs to the Test format. Any fun and games can be saved for the digital tour diary where De Zorzi, by his own admission, gets to speak nonsense”, Kagiso Rabada does a “pitch report” at the beach, and skipper Temba Bavuma can show off the results of his many hours spent in the gym.

On the field, it’s a serious business which De Zorzi said involved adjusting to unfamiliar conditions, and meant understanding that playing with more aggression when the ball was new, created chances to score quicker. 

“It wasn’t a conscious thing, like telling myself to play ‘Shuksball’ or something,” De Zorzi chirped. “It wasn’t about trying to entertain people; I’m not quite there, where I can think like that.”

The Proteas batter was pleased with the intent he showed in his two innings in the drawn first Test, where he scored 78 and 45, although he would have liked to have kicked on in the first ‘dig’, 

However, persevering on an extremely slow Queens Park Oval pitch will stand him and the rest of the batters in good stead for the second Test which the Proteas expect will be played in similar conditions at Providence Stadium in Georgetown, Guyana, from Thursday.

“I’m used to the ball coming onto the wicket and scoring squarer on the offside and the legside. So it was important to remain cognisant of the fact that I will have to score most of my runs by hitting the ball a lot straighter.”

It was the same for opening partner Aiden Markram, who like De Zorzi grew up playing on the bouncy and quicker pitches on the highveld. “You can ‘hit’ a lot of fielders, because there are a lot of straight fields set. You have to keep each other engaged, not get bored... We’ve played together at Tuks and the Titans so we have a rapport, we can tell a couple of jokes, to keep it light, and then switch back on,” De Zorzi, who has subsequently moved to Western Province, said of rekindling a relationship at the top of the Proteas batting order. 

South Africa lengthened their batting lineup in that first Test, with Wiaan Mulder coming in at No 8, and whether that ploy is replicated in Georgetown will be determined again by the pitch. Should it be similar to Trinidad and Tobago, then it is likely off-spinner Dane Piedt will be recalled to the starting team to give Keshav Maharaj some assistance, with either Mulder or Ryan Rickelton likely to make way. 

Although much time was lost in the first Test, the Proteas still looked a bowler short, which was further exacerbated by Mulder and Lungi Ngidi doing so little bowling, because they were less threatening. 

What won’t change is the need for De Zorzi and the batters to provide a foundation and particularly adjust to unfamiliar conditions. “At the start [of the innings] it’s probably easier to score here than in other countries. You could see the way that Temba, [Tristan] Stubbs, Bedders [David Bedingham] played, that it became tougher to score [as] the ball got softer.”