Purpose of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 tour was to experiment with team combinations: Gary Kirsten – Cricket News Update
Despite their disappointing performance in the recently wrapped-up T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe, South Africa’s head coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gary-Kirsten-c58527 remains unfazed, stating that the purpose of the tournament was not to win, but rather to experiment with different combinations
prior to the upcoming http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 this September.
“It wasn't a failure, it was a very important tour,” he said. “The purpose was to try out different combinations under match intensity. The results were disappointing but that wasn't our main goal,” he said, adding that if they had been aiming to win the
tournament, they would have picked their strongest team.
“Some guys enhanced their opportunity to be selected for that squad and we were able to see what types of players do well in conditions that will be similar to Sri Lanka.”
South Africa’s participation in the unofficial tri-series, against the much lower-ranked http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 and Zimbabwe was heavily criticised by many, although Cricket South Africa backed Kirsten’s decision to fit as much T20 practice as possible into the team’s
schedule prior to the World T20.
The matches in the tournament were largely expected to go in the Proteas’ favour, with stand-in skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HM-Amla-c1557 having stated that they expected to win. However, the series featured a complete turnaround, with hosts Zimbabwe dominating the points table
throughout, going on to defeat South Africa twice in the tournament (once by 29 runs, and then by 9 wickets in the final), and eventually claiming a series win.
“It helped us in terms of understanding what combinations we want use ... it will be quickly forgotten from a performance perspective because that's what it was, to experiment with what we can do in T20 cricket,” Kirsten pointed out.
The Proteas went into the match without most of their top players, such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Faf-du-Plessis-c1427 were both rotated
as openers, and performed equally well. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Colin-Alexander-Ingram-c51381 at number 3 was erratic, as was Albie Morkel’s performance with both bat and ball.
Young pacers Marchant de Lange and Chris Morris (who made his debut for South Africa) were both given a chance in the playing XI, while experienced paceman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LL-Tsotsobe-c1842 struggled, claiming just one wicket at the expense of a total of 133 runs in the
four matches he played. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/WD-Parnell-c2787 got off to a shaky start, and proved particularly expensive, before he bounced back in the team’s last two matches.
Despite their defeats, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757’s team management will undoubtedly have a clearer idea regarding which players will contribute towards a winning XI as they work to put together a squad for the World T20.
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