Proteas eye Super 8s rotation: Nortje and Maphaka set for UAE clash?

COMMENT

The Proteas’ emphatic seven-wicket victory over New Zealand has given coach Shukri Conrad the freedom to rotate his squad for Wednesday’s ICC T20 World Cup clash against the United Arab Emirates.

The T20 World Cup runners-up in Barbados two years ago, have effectively qualified for the Super 8s already with a full house of six points from three matches, and could even know their fate before the toss against the UAE. 

An Afghanistan win over the UAE on Monday (starts 7.30am) will see the Proteas progress to the next stage. 

An UAE victory will keep the desert nation in the hunt for the play-offs on a potential four points along with New Zealand, but the Proteas run-rate (1.477) is far superior to any team in Group D at the moment.

Conrad will, therefore, have the flexibility to give a couple of benchwarmers an opportunity to stretch their legs in case they might be needed later in the competition. 

Seamers Anrich Nortje and Kwena Maphaka, along with all-rounder Jason Smith, have yet to feature at this tournament, while George Linde only played the thriller against Afghanistan. 

Nortje will certainly be itching to be unleashed against the UAE after being the Proteas’ highest wicket-taker at the last T20 World Cup two years ago. It has been a winding road for the "Uitenhage Express" since having battled injury during this period, but he showed during the Betway SA20 where he excelled for Sunrisers Eastern Cape in their successful campaign that he still has the ability to send down rockets. 

The 32-year-old has been expensive in his two comeback matches for the Proteas against both the West Indies at Centurion and India in the warm-up at Navi Mumbai, conceding over 50 runs in both clashes. But he remains an X-factor bowler and it would be in the Proteas’ interests to get Nortje match-fit ahead of the Super Eights. 

Equally, young Maphaka will be eager to get a run-out at his first senior ICC tournament. The 19-year-old remains a large part of the Proteas plans — even further than this current competition — and will benefit greatly from the experience of playing in a T20 World Cup group match. 

Furthermore, Lungi Ngidi has been the Proteas’ most successful bowler in the competition thus far with eight wickets and could be in need of a rest before the pressure matches gets underway.

Smith, despite being chosen in the original 15-man squad ahead of Tristan Stubbs, has been forced to look on from the sidelines thus far with Stubbs cementing the ‘finisher’ role with an explosive performance, especially in both Super Overs against Afghanistan. 

It is likely that he will not be used again in the competition barring an injury, and could do with a run out against the UAE. The Proteas will also be travelling for the first time in the competition as they move from their Ahmedabad base to Delhi. 

It will be interesting to see how Aiden Markram’s men adjust to vastly different conditions at the Arjun Jaitley Stadium in New Dehli, after playing all three their previous matches at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The 55 000-seater stadium has will play host to Monday's game between Afghanistan and the UAE, and could give the Proteas valuable insights ahead of their clash.

A handful of matches have been played at the venue so far during the tournament with scored in the 150s dominating close encounters. Only India have defied that statistic after scoring 209 against Namibia last week Thursday.