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Cape Town - The Proteas are expecting some home grown conditions when they take on Australia in match seven of the Tri-Nation One-Day International (ODI) series at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Sunday.
Proteas all-rounder, Chris Morris, says the local conditions look similar to those of his former home ground, the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
“Robin Peterson, who has played here quite often, says the Kensington Oval is the Wanderers of the Caribbean,” he said to the media on Saturday.
“I haven’t played here before but it does look like a good wicket that can favour both the batsmen and the bowlers. It will be important for us to adapt early on and to hit the mark from ball one, especially since the dimensions of the ground are a lot different to those we experienced in St Kitts. Hopefully I can get some pace and bounce off the deck as well and use that to my benefit.”
The ground last hosted an ODI in 2001, a rain affected match where the hosts beat Pakistan by one run. South Africa have only played three matches at the venue, the last being against England during the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007. AB de Villiers and his players will have one eye on the final as they prepare for the match, with victory on Sunday set to secure the team a place in the June 26 climax.
“This match against Australia is quite important for us,” Morris explained.
“We have seen during this series that anybody can beat anybody on the day. We want to guarantee our place in that final tomorrow, we don’t want to leave it until the last match against the West Indies. We will have to be at our best to beat them, make the final, and hopefully come out on top with the trophy.”
Morris has put in a lot of work into his bowling over the last few months, and credits his consistency during the series to the work he has put in behind the scenes. While his clean hitting abilities can’t be faltered, following his cameo of 40 runs off 26 balls in the previous match, he says it’s pleasing to see some of the rewards from his work with the ball.
“I did go back to the drawing board in terms of bowling,” he said.
“I was sliding down leg quite a lot, it was upsetting and irritating because I know what I can do with the ball. When I got to India for the IPL I did a lot of bowling with Zaheer Khan and made small changes to my action which have helped when finishing off. It was a lot of hard work but I’m fortunate that it is working out now.”
