The second ODI between SA and England will be played at Lord’s, in London, on Thursday.
The current Proteas squad are finding success not only because of the plans being put in place by team management, but because the players are doing well to implement them, according to spin bowler Keshav Maharaj.
After winning the recent one-day international (ODI) series against Australia, the SA team demolished England by seven wickets in the first 50-over game of their three-match series in Leeds on Tuesday.
Speaking ahead of the second fixture in London on Thursday (2pm start), Maharaj felt there was a good understanding between the players and coaches.
“I think the plans have been really good, but I think the way we execute our plans has been much more encouraging,” he said.
Maharaj, who played a key role at Headingley on Tuesday by taking 4/22 to dismantle the lower half of England’s line-up, said a lot of effort had been put in by the Proteas squad to ensure they were ready to take on some of the nation’s perennial rivals.
“The guys have been putting in a lot of work, not just in this series now and prior to this series, but prior to Australia,” said Maharaj, the top-ranked bowler in ODI cricket.
“There have been some good camps that have been implemented, working with the bowling coach and things like that. It’s simple plans but it’s nice to see that the sort of mindset change towards that has come together as a bowling unit.”
Exciting battle ahead
With the Proteas aiming to secure a series victory with a match to spare at Lord’s today, and England hoping to hit back in front of their home crowd, Maharaj believed it could be a cracking game.
Though the SA team have won three of their four ODI matches thus far on their tours of Australia and England, their single defeat to Australia was a convincing loss, and the Proteas were not getting ahead of themselves.
Maharaj said they were still looking for areas of improvement, and they were eager to produce an even more clinical performance today.
“Every game is a new start, so for us as well as England [it’s an opportunity] to go back to the drawing board and see where the areas are in which we can improve, and then obviously there will be a good game of cricket at Lord’s.”
De Zorzi returns home
Meanwhile, team management confirmed top-order batter Tony de Zorzi had returned to South Africa after picking up a left hamstring strain while field during the first ODI at Headingley.
“He will return home and undergo scans to determine the extent of the injury,” Cricket South Africa said in a statement.
No replacement had been called up to replace De Zorzi in the squad.
And batter Matthew Breetzke had recovered from a hamstring strain. He would be available for the match at Lord’s.
