SA skipper Markram hopeful about getting “batting-friendly” venues in Caribbean after struggle in US

North Sound [Antigua and Barbuda], June 19 (ANI): South Africa captain Aiden Markram is hopeful that the venues in the Caribbean will be “better to bat” on after their batters failed to deliver in the group stage and their bowlers had to bail them out.

South Africa couldn’t touch the 120-run mark in the group stage while facing Asian sides Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The Netherlands managed to give them a run for their money after they were just a couple of steps away from pulling off another upset.

South Africa will face high-flying co-hosts, the USA, in their first game of the Super 8 in the ongoing T20 World Cup on Wednesday.

Ahead of the clash, Markram addressed the batting woes. He said he is hopeful that batters will find their groove and added that he remains aware of the spin threat in the Caribbean.

“I think, hopefully, it’s on the side of new conditions and a lot of excitement and buzz around that but guys are only human. If you’ve not been scoring runs, you tend to maybe search for your first 5 – 10 balls of an innings. But it’s about backing the fact that if you get through that phase, hit a couple of good shots, and it automatically brings that feel-good factor back to you and sort of just run with it from there,” Markram said in the pre-match press conference.

“So hopefully the conditions are better to bat. I think they’re still going to be challenging but potentially the opposite side of the scale in terms of it might spin a bit more now. Obviously in New York, there was none of that so – but having the game and the plans and the options from a batting unit point of view in your locker, but more importantly, feeling the bravery and the courage to bring them out if needs be if the wicket is turning like that,” he added.

On the US surface that supported pacers offering them extra pace and bounce, the Proteas bowlers defended and restricted teams to low totals.

Anrich Nortje is the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the ongoing tournament with nine scalps in four matches.

The South African skipper also lavished praise on the bowlers and remained hopeful that they would encounter batting-friendly pitches.

“Yeah, still striving for that close-to-perfect game. I thought our bowlers so far throughout the comp have been really good for us and potentially bailed us out of jail once or twice. But it’s understandably so. Conditions have been quite tough for us with the bat. And like I said at the start, now it’s a fresh start for us. Specifically, if you speak as a batting group, we get the chance to get to new conditions, hopefully slightly more batting friendly for us, and a good time for us to start peaking and finding some form moving forward in the competition,” Markram stated.

USA T20 WC squad: Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Nethralvakar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir.

Reserve Players: Gajanand Singh, Juanoy Drysdale, Yasir Mohammad.

South Africa T20 WC squad: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.