Nortje: We see ourselves as one of the best pace attacks

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epa10268457 Anrich Nortje of South Africa (L) celebrates with Aiden Markram after taking the wicket of Taskin Ahmed of Bangladesh to win the match during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 cricket match between South Africa and Bangladesh at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2022. EPA/DAN HIMBRECHTS EDITORIAL USE ONLY, IMAGES TO BE USED FOR NEWS REPORTING PURPOSES ONLY, NO COMMERCIAL USE WHATSOEVER, NO USE IN BOOKS WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT FROM AAP AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT
  • Post published:October 30, 2022

South African pacer Anrich Nortje has labelled his team’s pace attack as “one of the best” but calls for calm following their showing in Perth on Saturday afternoon.

In a crucial Group 2 match, South Africa takes on table-toppers India at Perth’s new stadium, which has a similar pace and bounce to the city’s previous WACA Ground.

According to Nortje, it’s critical to control your emotions because bowlers are only permitted one bouncer every over in the T20 format (two are permitted in Tests and ODIs).

“With T20 cricket hopefully somewhere in the future we can have two bouncers an over, that would be unbelievable,” Nortje told reporters.

“But on wickets like this, obviously you have got one bouncer, so you have to try and not to get carried away.

“Sometimes it looks nice, but not as effective, so be as effective as possible and keep your emotions intact.”

After their first game was postponed, Nortje returned bowling stats of 4-10 in their prior victory over Bangladesh.

As spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi came in with the wickets, Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell also bowled quickly.

Nortje appreciated the bowling section of his team.

“We back ourselves, we see ourselves as one of the best pace attacks there is. We have got a great variety, we cover a lot of aspects, we cover a lot of bases with our attack,” he said.

“We have got two gun spinners as well. I am sure the boys are looking forward to tomorrow.”

The weather in Hobart and Melbourne caused problems for six of the teams in the Super 12 stage, including the Proteas, who had a game canceled.

In their first game, they had to share points with Zimbabwe, and Nortje said that there was no room for a loss in the tournament because of the weather.

“There is possibility of other games being rained out,” he said.

“First game didn’t go according to plan, hopefully we can keep the momentum that we have got and take it into the next few games.”

South Africa didn’t make it to the semi-finals of the last tournament in the United Arab Emirates, even though they won four of their five Super 12 games.

Nortje said that the team was really hoping to win their first World Cup trophy.

“It’s a really good team, the guys have been together for such a long time,” he said.

“All in all everyone understands where everyone fits in and what to do on the day and in situations. Hopefully we can win the cup this season.”

Photo by EPA/DAN HIMBRECHTS