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Cape Town - Proteas coach, Russell Domingo, says the loss of JP Duminy is a big blow, but any of the 15 players in the squad are capable of doing the job in their ICC World Twenty20 match against the West Indies in Nagpur on Friday.
Domingo admits that the selection process to replace a two-in-one player like Duminy will be ‘tricky’, but is confident the squad can overcome the setback with the resources available in the squad.
“He is a big player for us,” he said of Duminy. “When you come to a venue like this (Nagpur), we know the ball is going to spin, JP offers us that option as a guy who can bowl four overs for us. He is one of our main batters and is in good form, not having him is a big blow and does upset the balance of the side.
“There is nothing we can do about it,” he continued. “We have a good squad of players and whoever steps in knows that everyone supports and backs him 100%. Anyone of these 15 players in the squad are good enough to come in and do the job for us.”
Domingo says they will consider the option of playing two frontline spinners for the ‘interesting’ VCA Stadium conditions, which have produced low-scoring matches in both the men and women’s matches played in the last week. He says it will be important to adapt as quickly as possible after the contrasting conditions at the Wankhede stadium for their opening two matches.
“The most important aspect will be assessing the conditions quickly,” he said in Nagpur on Tuesday.
“We have played on two great wickets in Mumbai, our batters were happy with that but I think our bowlers will be happy to play on this wicket where runs will be harder to come by. We have some quality batsmen in our line-up who have played in these conditions before and have had success under these conditions. Whatever wicket they do prepare will be the same for both sides so it’s no major issue for us.
“It’s definitely a wicket where you need to play two frontline spinners,” he explained.
“History suggests that and that is what the nature of the wicket looks like. Spin is going to be important here and we are fortunate that we have two quality spinners in Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso, I’m confident that both of them will get game time on Friday.”
