Rabada not thinking about any other quicks
Instead, the Proteas' bowling talisman just needs to continue being in the groove as the Windies loom.
South African pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada will turn out for the Lions in the local T20 competition from this weekend. Picture: AFP
When Kagiso Rabada steps up to bowl at the Hampshire Bowl on Monday, he is not going to be thinking about the West Indies pacemen nor any of the other fast bowlers who have already made their mark in this year’s World Cup.
Mitchell Starc, Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah have all produced sensational spells of fast bowling as they have led Australia, England and India respectively into good starts to the tournament.
Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry and Pat Cummins have not been far behind, while the West Indies have evoked memories of their legendary former pace quartets as they bundled Pakistan out for 105 and reduced Australia to 38 for four.
Rabada showed promising signs that he is poised to join the pace party when he bowled superbly with the new ball against India, but his efforts did not get the reward they deserved as he finished with two for 39 in 10 overs.
“Those are all phenomenal bowlers and I admire watching them, it’s nice to see them do well but just not against us. But I’m not focused on those bowlers or the West Indies fast bowlers, I just focus on what I need to do. I don’t think there’s any pressure on me to replicate what they’ve done, what they do does not affect me, but it can inspire me. But I think about their batsmen – our batsmen need to worry about their bowlers.
“I know exactly what I want to get out of the game, but I’ve played long enough to know that when it happens for you, it can really happen for you. Sometimes you bowl rubbish and get a five-for, sometimes you bowl very well and don’t get as many wickets as you hope for. You can be out of luck, have catches dropped, and it is really frustrating” Rabada said at the Hampshire Bowl.
The last time Rabada played against the West Indies, in Bridgetown in June 2016, he systematically dismantled their top-order, taking three wickets as he reduced them to 21 for four.
Sadly, Darren Bravo scored a brilliant run-a-ball century and, with help from Kieron Pollard and Jason Holder, lifted them to 285, which was enough to win by 100 runs.
On Monday, Rabada will once again have much responsibility piled on his shoulders as he leads a pace attack that is likely to include the two late replacements – Beuran Hendricks and Chris Morris.
“Having lost two on the bounce, there was a lot of emphasis on the India game, we really hoped to win to give ourselves some breathing space, but now we’re faced with a stiff challenge. But we’re ready to rise up again and face it, hopefully India was our turnaround game. We’ve played two of the best teams, we really could have won against England and we took India right to the death.
“We felt a bit complacent against Bangladesh, but it’s in our DNA, it’s the way we play that we never give up, we are always there. We just need a few things to click, it’s important for a lot of us to click individually, but the West Indies are a dangerous team and if they get going they can really hurt you. But Beuran is a really good bowler, I rate him a lot, he’s a leftie so that brings variety and he has a lot of skill,” Rabada said.
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