STUART HESS | Proteas need to develop attacking ethos to ensure winning T20 approach

The Proteas victory in Tuesday’s second T20 International against Australia was almost entirely the result of a majestic effort from Dewald Brevis, and while celebrating that performance is understandable, it shouldn’t mask problems the team still needs to resolve. 

Brevis answered one vital middle order issue with his unbeaten 125 in Darwin, and the prospect of a middle order featuring him alongside David Miller and Tristan Stubbs is one to salivate over. 

But given the volatile nature of T20, it is unrealistic to expect Brevis to deliver in that manner every match or every two out of three matches.   

Notwithstanding the largely successful campaign at the T20 World Cup last year, South Africa remains a team that appears to be following trends rather than setting them. 

With next year’s T20 World Cup taking place in India and Sri Lanka, it has been notable how Australia have followed a strategy used by the West Indies in 2016 — when it won the T20 World Cup in India — that places aggression at the forefront. 

There is no holding back by the Australians, who despite losing four wickets, still thumped 71 runs in the power play in the first match of the series last Sunday, and followed that with 58 runs on Tuesday. 

The destructive Tim David described the approach as “all guns blazing” but importantly added that it resulted from the Australian team having played together “as a group for a while now”.

South Africa hasn't had the opportunity to create similar cohesion. A change in coach is one reason, as was the need to rest some ‘starters’ after the World Test Championship final, including T20 skipper Aiden Markram.

It has meant that Shukri Conrad is still trying to fit the pieces together of a T20 team that can play in a style that will suit what will likely be batter-friendly conditions on the subcontinent next February. 

In 2016, the West Indies settled on a six-hitting strategy that some observers believed lacked thought. They were proved to be foolish, with Carlos Braithwaite smashing three sixes in the final over of the tournament to seal a magical victory.

West Indies had the resources to put such a strategy in place with Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Daren Sammy et al. 

On paper, the Proteas have boundary-hitting ability, but as Ryan Rickelton intimated after the defeat in the first match against Australia, the players need to overcome a fear of failure.

“It was a bit like the IPL, where guys hit the first ball for six. Sometimes, international cricket’s a little different. Sometimes you maybe hold back a bit, you know, because it’s probably, I want to say there’s more at stake,” Rickelton said. 

That comment explains South Africa’s more circumspect approach in the power play. In seven matches since Conrad took charge of the white ball teams, 50 is the most they’ve scored in the power play.

Rickelton offered one explanation for their hesitancy, but in that time South Africa have also had different openers, including Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Reeza Hendricks, while others like Rickelton and Markram are coming off a lengthy break.

There is also the balance of the starting team that Conrad needs to resolve in the remaining series before the World Cup. Having George Linde at No 6 and Senuran Muthusamy at 7, arguably handcuffs a batting line-up who might fear going too hard early, getting out and leaving too much work to do for the all-rounders.

The likely return of Miller for the series in England next month will help in some respects, pushing Linde down one position and either Corbin Bosch or Marco Jansen to bat at 8, providing the kind of depth that would liberate the front-line batters. 

Markram, Brevis and Tristan Stubbs add bowling options that should be experimented with more in keeping with the kind of appraising that’s being done with personnel and combinations. 

Brevis illustrated on Tuesday the kind of intent the Proteas need to show if they are to go one step further at a T20 World Cup than was the case in the Caribbean last year. With a few additions to the batting, South Africa can start playing like that on a permanent basis.