Proteas coach blasts ‘one-dimensional’ bowling after record England onslaught in Manchester

Proteas coach Shukri Conrad felt a one-dimensional bowling attack bereft of ideas had allowed England to score their record total of 304 in the second of three International T20s at Old Trafford in Manchester on Friday night. SA could only manage 158 in reply, losing by a whopping 146 runs.

Phil Salt’s record score of 141, and a quickfire 83 by his opening partner Jos Bulter, propelled the hosts to their highest T20I score in history as they bludgeoned the SA attack to all parts of the ground from the first ball. 

A Proteas bowling attack minus Keshav Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi had no answers to the assault, with young speedster Kwena Maphaka arguably the pick of the bowlers. 

Conrad was critical afterwards of their failure to adapt their tactics to suit the pressure situation, as well as the lack of variation in their bowling.  

“The way the modern has gone, if you get good wickets like this, quality batters like the England opening pair and a bowling attack that was way off, bereft of ideas and lost our disciplines, then it’s no surprise we get to 300,” he admitted at the post-match media conference.

“I can offer the excuse that some of them have come back after long layoffs but anything I says is going to be an excuse, more than anything else. We need to be better that on a good wicket.

“I think with the new ball, when there’s an onslaught like that we need  to find different plans. I don’t think we bowled enough yorkers, maybe didn’t use the short ball enough. But we became one-dimensional. The amount of no-balls that were bowled, it was an abject performance, really not good enough.”

With the series level at 1-1 ahead of Sunday’s final match in Nottingham, the SA mentor admitted they had their work cut out for them if they were to win the IT20 series, after securing victory in ODIs.

“Players have got to take a good long look at themselves, look at their performance, look at their execution when under pressure. The saying is when all around you are losing their heads, you keep yours, and we weren’t able to do that tonight,” Conrad said.

“You’ve got to wipe the slate clean but you can’t ignore what’s gone wrong, and a lot’s gone wrong tonight. We need to be better than that if we are to be a top side, which I believe we are. That wasn’t our best tonight and we have to be brutally honest about it and come back better on Sunday.”

Conrad admitted that the Proteas had felt the absence of Maharaj and Ngidi, but refused to use that as an excuse for the abysmal performance.

“We’ll see what Trent Bridge throws up but I don’t think there’ll be too many changes. You want to give guys the opportunity to set things right.”

The series in England is a key part of SA’s buildup to next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.