Proteas tick boxes in pink ball warm-up

The Proteas have managed to tick all of the boxes of their pink ball preparation in the drawn two-day tour match against a Cricket Australia XI (CA XI) at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
The batsmen all managed a decent hit-out during the two batting innings’, while the bowlers ticked over 30 overs in the match and 25 more in an inter-squad bowl after the match to give the squad a solid workout in their first trial of day-night cricket.
Protea fast bowler Kyle Abbott said after the match: “That’s what these tour matches are for.
“It’s sometimes hard to pick up your intensity, you are never going to play at full match intensity, but I think we have done well. We got some good things out of this game, ticked all of the boxes that we came here to tick over the last two days.”
The fast bowlers looked ominous against a young CA XI batting line-up, combining raw pace and swing bowling skills to skittle the home team out for 103, 312 runs behind South Africa’s first innings score.
The wickets were shared amongst the attack, with Dale Steyn (2/9), Vernon Philander (2/13), Kagiso Rabada (2/28), Kyle Abbott (2/16) and Morne Morkel (2/27) showing encouraging pre-series form.
Rilee Rossouw top-scored with 77 off 84 balls in the second innings before retiring out, with the rest of the batsmen all having an opportunity under lights before the match was called.
Of the pink ball Abbott said: “It seems to nip around a bit when the lights come on, not so much during the day.
“There is a bit of grass on the wicket so there has been a little bit of assistance throughout the match if you hit the deck hard and get in the right areas. There wasn’t a huge amount of swing, just some nip off the surface.
“I don’t think it’s up to us to adjust, it’s more the batsmen.
“Coming from a red or white ball they are quite used to that, this is a new colour for them, a ball is a ball to us, if it swings or doesn’t it’s still the same thing.
"For us to adjust is not that difficult but I think for the batsmen under the lights will take some getting used to.”
The focus moves on to the most relevant part of the series, the traditional red ball cricket and preparation for the first Test starting in Perth in 10 days.
The Proteas play a two-day warm-up match against a South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) XI starting on Thursday, and will look to build up their intensity and skills leading up to the Test match.
Abbott said of the bowling workloads: “We are still building up.
“We’ve only been here a week so there is still jetlag getting out of the system. We are going to be up to 10 or 12 overs at the end of tonight and by the beginning of the Test, working through this week, we should have our loads up.”
Latest
-
News
Jake Libby earns draw as Somerset, Hampshire and Gloucestershire open with wins
Worcestershire opener Libby made the second-longest Championship innings ever and was on the field for every ball of the match.
-
News
Jofra Archer to find out whether he could feature in IPL next week
Archer has already been ruled out of the initial stages of the tournament after undergoing surgery to remove glass from his finger last month.
-
News
Stuart Broad would support social media boycott as racist abuse continues online
Some football teams and players have taken a break from social media.
-
News
Snow hits Glamorgan hopes as Rory Burns and Ben Foakes shine for Surrey
Burns made 74 and England team-mate Foakes an unbeaten 81 for Surrey against Gloucestershire at Bristol.
-
News
ICC Player of the Month nominations for March announced
Winners of the player of the month awards will be announced every second Monday of the month on the ICC’s digital channels.
-
News
Billy Root overshadows brother Joe as England captain suffers against Glamorgan
The visitors closed the second day with the upper hand at Headingley.
-
News
Sadiq Khan hoping to attract future IPL matches to London
London has staged NFL, MLB and NBA matches in London in the past and the London Mayor hopes IPL matches can also be staged in the capital.
-
News
Dan Lawrence shows early touch as Essex start strongly in Championship
There were big hundreds for Sam Robson, Tom Haines and James Vince.
-
News
Sachin Tendulkar thanks medical staff after returning home from hospital
Tendulkar was admitted to hospital last week after revealing he had tested positive for Covid-19 and had been in quarantine at home.
-
News
New Zealand name squad for their Test tour of England
New Zealand have named a 20-player squad for their tour of England, with three uncapped prospects in the group.