Cape Town - It was no urban myth that the Waca was the quickest, bounciest pitch in the world. Batters used to break out into cold sweats the night before at the prospect of being physically harmed by hulking fast bowlers with handle-bar moustaches.
A visit to the Wild Wild West was not for the faint of heart.
But such is the modern world that change is inevitable which left “the Westerners” with real anxiety that the legend would be lost somewhere along the way, in the move across the Swan River to the new Perth Stadium.
Fortunately the only thing that is no more is the Freemantle Doctor hurling across the field due to the massive enclosed stadia, but the famous square remains intact with the drop-in pitch assembled from the Waca soil and clay.
Fast bowlers still have the unadulterated pleasure of hurling the ball through at 150kmh and watching the wicket-keeper taking the ball above his head.
This is enough to get the blood pumping through the veins all a little bit faster and coupled with the prospect of a rip-roaring 60-000 crowd transforming the Perth Stadium into a gladiatorial-like coliseum on Sunday for South Africa’s T2O World Cup showdown with India, it is no wonder Anrich Nortje is trying not to let it all bubble over.
“I think what we've seen the last few games, it's been a really good wicket. Lots of pace and bounce. So, on wickets like this, obviously, you have one bouncer over, so you have to try and just sort of time it properly and not get carried away,” Nortje, who has already sent down the second fastest delivery of tournament, told reporters
“Sometimes it can look nice, but it's not effective. So try to be as effective as possible, just try and be calm in situations where I think adrenaline is flowing, try to keep the emotions intact, and I think most of the time you should come out on top just as a bowler and from an execution point of view.”
South Africa will also take confidence from the fact that they won’t be riding into town armed with Nortje’s sole pistol. The Proteas’ artillery is well-stocked with Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, Lungi Ngidi and perhaps even Marco Jansen ready to confront India’s star-studding batting unit of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.
“We see ourselves as one of the best pace attacks there is. We definitely back ourselves,” Nortje said. “We have a great variety. We cover a lot of aspects.
“We cover a lot of bases with our attack. Definitely as a pace attack, we back ourselves against any team to go out and do what we have to do on the day to try and get over the line.”
Captain Temba Bavuma’s form - or rather lack thereof - at the top of the order remains firmly in the spotlight, but South Africa are likely to make only one change from the team that thrashed Bangladesh in Sydney with the extra fast bowler added to the line-up at the expense of one of Keshav Maharaj or Tabraiz Shamsi.
Maharaj was preferred in the abandoned opener in Hobart, but the bigger Perth boundaries could see Shamsi have the opportunity to redeem himself after a rather chastening experience in India last month.
“You'll have to speak to the coach. I don't know. I have no idea,” Nortje chuckled when asked about the composition of South Africa’s line-up.
Both teams, though, would be well-versed in each other’s resources though having already contested seven T20I’s this year with India fractionally ahead on points 4-3.
But this is a T20 World Cup where the stakes are a whole lot higher. Strap in for an epic stand-off.
Likely teams
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj/Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi.
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel/Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh. Mohammed Shami.
Start: 1pm (SA time); TV: SuperSport
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