South Africa have won four out of the four matches that they have played in the T20 World Cup 2024. While unbeaten, the Aiden Markram-led side have been far from convincing. Against USA, in their first Super 8 game, South Africa’s bowling failed and they had to grind it out in the final two overs to win by 18 runs. Wicketkeeper-batter Heinrch Klaasen acknowledged that the team had not been convincing as a unit, but said that it was a big positive that SA showed the mentality to grind out wins.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference before their second Super 8 game against England, Klaasen credited the bowlers and hope that the batting unit will find their natural selves in better pitches of West Indies.
“We had four scrappy games that we pulled through. It wasn’t pretty. Our bowlers bowled incredibly well in those four or five games now. So, the batters just find a way to scrap and we had to adjust our game plans a little bit. Hopefully on better wickets we can find our swings and be our natural selves. So that’s the one positive that’s still out there for us to go find. But the rest of the way we’ve been playing, the way we’ve been grafting and adapting to conditions is brilliant and that shows the maturity in the group as well,” Klaasen said in the pre-match press conference.
“So, yeah, we obviously are looking forward to that perfect game, but hopefully that will happen the longer the tournament goes on for us and find it when it really matters,” he further added.
