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Cape Town - Eddie Leie took 3/16 on his T20 debut for the Proteas against Bangladesh in Dhaka last month, and has now played himself very much into the mix for a run in the two-match series against New Zealand which starts in Durban on Friday.
Aaron Phangiso is the other spinner in the T20 squad, but it will be hard to ignore Leie on Friday after his man-of-the-match display in the Proteas’ 31-run win over the Tigers.
“It’s everything that I dreamt of, but that game is gone,” Leie said of his international debut.
“It happened, it’s past and I’m just glad that I got selected for the New Zealand series again.”
Both Leie and Phangiso (3/30) played in that match against Bangladesh, and playing the pair together again is an option, but that depends on the Kingsmead strip.
But the Lions man says his role in the side is the same regardless of the surface he plays on.
“The role of a spinner doesn’t change. It doesn’t matter where you play in the world or in the country,” said Leie.
“The role of the spinner is to bowl in the middle overs and try and control... probably from overs seven to over 13.
“If you can control that period and also take wickets at the same time it’s very helping. Obviously in the middle overs if our first bowlers have started well, then that’s when they (batsmen) will try and attack you more and that’s our chance to get wickets.”
Leie believes variation is also a major part of his game in the shorter format.
“T20 is flair... you keep the batsmen guessing by mixing it up as much as you can and that’s what I try to do,” he said.
“You can’t just bowl the same thing all the time because they can just line you up. Obviously if you go to 50 overs you will bowl more of your stock delivery.”
Friday’s match gets underway at 18:00.
