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SA bowlers have point to prove

Altus Momberg

Cape Town - The Proteas' inexperienced bowling attack will have to justify the trust afforded to them by the selectors when they take on England at Newlands on Friday.

The Proteas bowlers struggled last Sunday at Centurion and if they are to clinch the one day series - they will have to win the next three matches in a row - then the bowlers will have to really improve.

There is however, little experience in the bowling attack, with the Proteas taking the decision to rebuild their squad for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

The five front line bowlers - Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt, Wayne Parnell, Ryan McLaren and Roelof van der Merwe, who have seldom ever been selected as a group - have only played 115 times in total for the Proteas.

When one considers that Shaun Pollock (303) and Makhaya Ntini (173) played many more matches than that on their own, then the lack of experience available is striking.

Vincent Barnes, the Proteas assistant coach, said on Thursday that he believes that the return of Wayne Parnell after his ankle injury will make a big difference.

"He adds variation to the bowling attack and he has also shown in the Twenty20 World Cup earlier this year that he can really deliver when under pressure," said Barnes.

Parnell will probably play in the place of Albie Morkel.

Barnes implied that the form of the SA bowlers has improved since their showing at Centurion when Jonathan Trott and Paul Collingwood "clinched" the match with their partnership of 152 runs for the third wicket.

"Dale bowled really well in the beginning, but was rather unlucky not to take early wickets. You must also remember that he always bowls when the pressure is at its highest. He bowls at the beginning of the innings, then during the powerplays and then at the end. There is always the chance that he will be punished."

JP Duminy will probably have to play a much bigger role with the ball on Friday. He is the second spinner in the team after Roelof van der Merwe.

Duminy has already expressed his goal to regularly bowl 10 overs for the Proteas in one day internationals.

According to Barnes, Duminy is one of the Proteas' most underestimated bowlers. "He has improved a lot and he performed excellently for us with the ball against Australia," said Barnes.

Graeme Smith also said that he hopes that Duminy's bowling improves and can play a more important role with the ball.

"We now see with Jacques's (Kallis) injury how valuable it is to have a player who bats in the top four and bowls his quota of overs."
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