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Cape Town - Proteas coach Russell Domingo says his squad will have to “find a way” to turn their performance around in the series-deciding third One-Day International (ODI) against New Zealand at Kingsmead on Wednesday.
If the Proteas lose the series, it will be their first consecutive series loss in five years, but if they win, it will be a big tick for the temperament and character of a squad in transition.
“Every series is important,” he said to the media in Durban on Tuesday.
“We are fully aware of the importance of winning this series, considering our performance in Bangladesh, tomorrow is a big game for us.”
Domingo defended the Proteas’ decision to cancel practice on Tuesday morning, a change-up to the schedule that has worked well for the squad in the past.
“We’ve done it before,” he said.
“We did it for a few big World Cup games in Australia but we also have a few niggles at the moment that needed some rest. I don’t think one practice session now is going to make too much difference. We have trained really well in this series, the intensity has been good, we just feel it might be a good time to connect as a team to spend time doing other things than cricket.”
The Proteas’ disappointing application with the bat was the major downfall in Sunday’s match, and a better assessment of conditions at Kingsmead will be necessary if the order is to improve on their performances. Domingo admitted that it has been difficult to “get things going” due to the stop-start nature of the international calendar.
“We haven’t got that continuity yet, we haven’t found that recipe yet,” Domingo said.
“New Zealand have just come off a good tour of England and Zimbabwe where they have been playing together as a unit, we haven’t had that yet. Since the World Cup we have played five ODI’s in trying conditions and we need to be able to adjust better to conditions than we have at the moment.”
The Black Caps may have entered the series as underdogs without some of their key players, but showed great depth from their bench in Potchefstroom.
“They are a quality side, they have good depth,” he said of New Zealand.
“They have a guy like Matt Henry who is not playing but can bowl at 150km/h. We are not surprised by their performances, we know they have good systems in place in New Zealand, their domestic cricket seems to be producing good players. They still have some match-winners in their side and they still have a nucleus of good players with guys like Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and Grant Elliott.”
