South Africa’s bowling cartel is preparing to hit Australia’s top-order with another barrage of short balls after taking lessons out of the second innings of their defeat in Brisbane.
Defending a slender lead of just 34 runs, the South Africans took four wickets, removing Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith and Travis Head cheaply.
Anrich Nortje says the South Africans are preparing to hit the Aussies with bouncers at the MCG.Credit:Getty Images
And right-arm quick Anrich Nortje said they would resume where they left off with the short balls, saying the Aussies looked scared when he and Kagiso Rabada bowled short in the second innings.
“It’s never nice getting a ball past your head at high speed, so it definitely looked like [they were scared] at stages,” Nortje said.
“I’m not saying anyone is scared of me, but I’m just saying in general, getting a ball past your head at 140-150 km/h is not comfortable. Whether you’re the best puller or best batter in the world, it’s still uncomfortable.
“In a certain situation, you could possibly hit someone or take their feet away, so that’s the goal of a bouncer, but there’s always that [thought], ‘you never know when it’s going to come’. That’s the great thing about Test cricket, at least there are two bouncers in an over for us.
“We just need to be on it again and try and simulate it.”
Captain Dean Elgar doubled down on Nortje’s comments, suggesting Australia could be scarred by the four late wickets on day two in Brisbane.
“I always say I’d rather be facing them in the nets for a short period of time than facing them out in the middle because I know what they can bring to the table,” Elgar said of his bowling attack.
“Hopefully, those four wickets from day two have created a few demons in the opposition camp.
“We’ll see.”
Asked whether his bowling brigade were under-rated, Elgar labelled his attack “the best in the world”.
“Again, I’d rather be standing at slip instead of facing them between the wickets,” he said.
“If people want to underestimate them, that’s ok. We believe and we’ve got massive faith in them that they can win us a Test match in any situation, but we’ve got to get them into that situation, so they can perform their trade.”
Nortje dismissed suggestions the South Africans would target an out-of-form David Warner, and instead they would remain flexible in-game to make sure they’re using every advantage in their bowling line-up.
South Africa took four quick wickets in the second innings in Brisbane.Credit:AP
He added that his bowling attack struggled to get their line right in Brisbane, as opposed to their length.
“There were maybe a few stages here or there we might have been off a little bit, but all in all, we’ve got certain plans to certain players as well,” he said.
“I don’t think the length was an issue. People were nicking off from different lengths, it was just about getting the lines correctly.”
Rabada and Nortje took the new ball in the second innings, for all of 7.5 overs, but Nortje said he expected to return to first change in the Boxing Day Test.
“We’ve got a big group of fast bowlers and I think everyone can bowl with the new ball,” he said.
“I’ve generally been the guy to go first change, so I don’t see that changing too much, but it was a thing in the moment and I really enjoyed it. I’ve been working really hard to try and be more effective with the new ball. I thought it came out decently with the new ball, but all in all, I think the plan would be going back to the way we started with it.”
Nortje said his bowling unit had a very good rapport, and was confident they would be more consistent at the MCG as opposed to the Gabba.
“The last game, it’s probably not even a session, it’s half a session and the game could have been different, we could have been in a winning position,” he said.
“That’s how quick things were happening. You can’t look at losing by six wickets and say it’s a big margin. On that wicket, it might have been a very small margin. So, we’re not really focused on the last game, we’re focused on what’s coming up now, trying to prepare again.
“On the field, it’s more about trying to focus on what’s working for a certain bowler. Some swing it, some bowl fast, some are skilled against left-arm [batsmen] so you cover quite a few bases and not everyone can do the same thing. But just trying to get an idea on the field of what the right thing is to do, or what we feel.”
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